R. G. LeTourneau

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Robert Gilmour "R. G." LeTourneau (/lətˈərnoʊ/; November 30, 1888 – June 1, 1969), born in Richford, Vermont, was a prolific inventor of technologies related to earthmoving machinery, and founder of LeTourneau Technologies and LeTourneau University.^[1] His factories supplied machinery which represented nearly 75 percent of the earthmoving equipment used by the Allied forces during World War II, and more than half of the 1,500-mile (2,414 km) Alaska Highway in Canada, "Alcan", was built using LeTourneau equipment.^[2] Over the course of his life he secured 299 patents,^[2] relating to earthmoving equipment, manufacturing processes, and machine tools.^{[not verified in body]}

LeTourneau sold most company assets in 1953 for US$ 31M,^[2] but reentered the heavy equipment field as LeTourneau Technologies,^{[verification needed]} the oversight of which was left to his son, Richard LeTourneau, on his retirement in 1966.^{[citation needed]} Its manufacturing and offshore drilling assets were sold in 1970 to Marathon Manufacturing Co., to become Marathon LeTourneau Co.^{[citation needed]} (the assets of which became and remain divded between various manufacturing and rig-technology companies).^[3][4]

In his later life and retirement, the elder LeTourneau was invovlved in philanthropic pursuits, many related to his Christian faith.