AASP Primary Records Program

Where are They Now Series
Judy Lentin
AASP Newsletter 25(3): p. 7, 1992.

Logan Urban

At the time of the organization of the AASP Logan was employed at Phillips Petroleum Company in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Logan is a product of the L.R. Wilson school of Palynology at the University of Oklahoma where he completed a Masters Degree in 1965. At Phillips Logan was the palynological supervisor working of biostratigraphic correlations, source rock identification, vitrinite reflectance, thermal maturation and hydrocarbon potential interpretation until 1975. In that year he moved on to a position of Senior Exploration Geologist in Bogota, Colombia and Miami Florida. He headed studies on South American plate tectonics and a plate tectonic reconstruction and geological evolution of the Caribbean Basin.

In 1981 Logan set up United Energy Development Company and at the same time was Manager of Wang O.K.L.A. Investments. In this position Logan has drilled and completed 45 producing wells. Currently Logan is smiling a lot and raising Brittany bird dogs. He owns about 15 dogs now and calls the kennel "Nasty Dogs". He thinks that raising bird dogs may be more profitable than running an oil company in these days and times but he still has the oil company.

Bartlesville, Oklahoma, Examiner-Enterprise
Sunday, March 7, 2004
www.examiner-enterprise.com/articles/2004/03/11/milestones/4158.txt

Mr. Logan Louis Urban

Logan Louis Urban, 66, died 3:45 a.m., Thursday, March 4, 2004 at his home. Services will be held at Stumpff Funeral Home, 1600 SE Washington Blvd, at 2 PM on Monday, March 8, 2004. The family requests that no flowers be sent.

Those who wish to make a memorial contribution are asked to donate to Jane Phillips Hospice, 219 N.W. Virginia, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, 74003.

Logan was born in Rush Springs, OK on October 8, 1937. He was the youngest son of Anna (Parks) Urban and Henry Bernard Urban, and the brother of James Urban. He attended school in Rush Springs and then went on to receive his Masters degree from the L.R. Wilson school of Palynology at the University of Oklahoma.

Logan married J. Irene Urban in 1962, and the couple had two children. They moved to Bartlesville in 1966, and Logan was employed as a palynological supervisor at Phillips Petroleum. In 1977, Logan was promoted to Senior Exploration Geologist for Phillips and was transferred first to Bogota, Columbia, and then to Miami, FL in 1980. He traveled extensively, and visited nearly every continent on earth.

In 1981, Logan returned to Bartlesville where he started United Energy Development, a company that drilled and produced oil wells throughout Northeast Oklahoma.

In 1994 he married his second wife, Gale (Batman) Urban. They traveled together and enjoyed a fulfilling life in Bartlesville. Logan enjoyed quail hunting, and in his later years, he and Gale raised Brittany bird dogs.

He is survived by his wife Gale Urban of Bartlesville, OK , daughter Susan Urban of Seattle, WA; son Michael Urban of Los Angeles, CA; stepsons Keith Eppler, of Tulsa, OK and Dean Eppler of Stillwater, OK. Also surviving is his mother-in-law Ruth Batman; his step-grandchildren Jamison Keith Eppler, Hanna Nicole Eppler, and Dean Galen Eppler; and his Niece C. Tonya Moore of Oklahoma City, OK.

Logan L. Urban (1937-2004)
By
William C. Meyers

Logan Lewis Urban, one of the founding members of AASP, died March 3, 2004, at his home in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, from complications of pancreatic cancer.

Logan was born October 8, 1937, in the small town of Rush Springs, Oklahoma. He was educated in the Rush Springs public schools, earned a BS in Geology in 1962 from the University of Oklahoma, and subsequently an MS in Geology from that same school. His graduate work was done under the supervision of Dr. L. R. (Doc) Wilson. Also in 1962, he married J. Irene (Harrell) Urban.

His first job in the oil industry was with Sun Oil Company in Dallas, Texas, but he soon accepted a permanent position as a palynological supervisor with Phillips Petroleum in Bartlesville in 1966. Working in the special studies group with James Dempsey, Logan was soon recognized for his ability to use palynology to solve stratigraphic problems. His contributions to Alaskan North Slope stratigraphy and thermal history were key factors in Phillips obtaining valuable lease acreage in the Prudhoe Bay Field, the largest oil field in North America.

In recognition of his contributions and capabilities, Logan was appointed Chief Palynologist for Phillips, and recruited five professionals to continue solving palynological problems worldwide. His work took him to Alaska, South America, the Far East, the North Sea, the Zagros Mountains of Iran, and numerous states in the western U.S. He introduced vitrinite reflectance and TAI, along with kerogen descriptions to help evaluate the petroleum potential of frontier areas, and he designed a mobile palynological laboratory that was used on key wells worldwide. His success led to his appointment as Senior Exploration Geologist and Science Advisor for Phillips International in Columbia in 1977, and represented a major transition from a specialist to a generalist position that was responsible for generating exploration plays.

In 1980, Logan transferred to Phillips International Headquarters in Coral Gables, Florida. Shortly thereafter, Logan's brother, Jim, and his family were killed in a private plane accident, and Logan and his wife separated. These events, in part, prompted Logan to leave Phillips to return to Bartlesville and manage the oil leases that had been held by his brother. He went on to develop new prospects, and drilled and completed numerous shallow wells. He founded United Energy Development, and became a successful producer and a respected consulting geologist. Following the decline in oil prices in the early 1990's, Logan retired from the oil industry, and remarried - to Gale (Bateman) Urban in 1994.

After mastering the plethora of government regulations concerning commercial pollution, Logan began a new career working as an environmental consultant for eight years with U. S. Filter Company in Bartlesville. He retired from that position in 2003. In late 2003, he was incapacitated by a fall in which he sustained severe damage to his vertebrae.

The strong work ethic and sense of self-reliance that Logan acquired from working in the fields near Rush Springs in his youth helped see him through the early death of his father, and the tragic and early death of his brother. His family accompanied him to Columbia for his assignment there, and they enjoyed the totally different cultural atmosphere of Bogota. For Logan, it involved field work in the Andean jungles, with the accompanying risk of encountering either bushmasters or armed guards in drug-growing areas, as well as numerous visits to distant wildcat wells.

Twice in his life, during his undergraduate years, and again while running United Energy Development, Logan was able to indulge his passion for riding Harley Davidson "hogs". During the latter interval, he also fulfilled his love of owning and driving fast sport cars.

Logan engendered deep respect in his many friends and colleagues, not only by his keen analytical mind and numerous accomplishments, but also for his firm and loyal friendship and his willingness to help anyone who asked. His fellow palynologists knew that they could talk to Logan about common problems, and that they would always receive from him an honest answer - the "unvarnished truth". He never forgot his mentor, teacher and friend, L. R. Wilson. Following Professor Wilson's retirement, Logan and other colleagues often went to Norman to share a "wee dram"" with 'Doc' during fondly-remembered evenings.

Logan took great pride in his dogs - Brittany spaniels. He enjoyed training them and hunting with them in the Osage Hills of northeastern Oklahoma, and even converted some of his long time "American Pointer" friends to Brittany fans.

Logan will be sorely missed by all those who knew him is AASP, as well as his many friends and acquaintances outside the geological profession. His life was lived intensely - he truly "did it his way".