John Harbin

Born and raised in Waxahachie, Texas during the Depression, he was at work every waking minute. After graduating from UT with honors, Harbin went to work for a subsidiary of ExxonMobil in Tulsa, Okla., as a management trainee. Two years later, he was transferred to Creole Petroleum, another Exxon subsidiary which was headquartered in Maracaibo, Venezuela. World War II broke out during his time in South America, and as soon as his contract with Creole ended, Harbin returned to the States to join the U.S. Navy Reserve. Prior to being transferred to Pearl Harbor, he met and married the love of his life, Dorothy Middleton. At the end of the war, the newlyweds returned to Venezuela, where Harbin resumed work for Creole. In 1948, the couple decided they had been away from friends and family for too long, so they packed their bags and went back home to Texas. In July of the same year, Harbin joined Halliburton Company as a controller. He worked his way up for decades and in 1972 became chairman of the board and CEO, a position he held for 11 years. Even after retiring, Harbin didn’t slow down. In 1997, in honor of his beloved Dorothy, Harbin established the Harbin Chair and Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Dorothy died in July 2002. Harbin is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Linda Ann and Joel Robuck, of Dallas.