Ervin R. Lederer, Vienna, Austria, then Caddo Parish, Louisiana

Submitted by Mike Miller
Date: 1999-2000




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Ervin R. Lederer, C. E., M. E., Ph. D.  Highly educated and a member of 

many representative scientific bodies, Dr. Ervin R. Lederer, vice president, 

in charge of refineries, of the Louisiana Oil Refining Corporation, and the 

Invincible Oil Corporation, at Shreveport, is widely known as an engineer 

and for his achievements in chemistry, being a recognized authority on the 

intricate problems that are constantly being presented in the oil refining 

industry.  During his several years of residence at Shreveport he has become 

most favorably known to her people, both personally and professionally.



Doctor Lederer was born at Vienna, Austria, in 1882.  He was educated in the 

University of Vienna and the University of Heidelberg, long great science 

centers, from the former receiving the degrees of Chemical Engineer and 

Mechanical Engineer, and from the latter the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.  

Upon completing his college courses he entered the oil industry as chemist 

and engineer, his first field of work being in Roumania and Galicia, where 

his American employers were interested.



In 1912 Doctor Lederer came to the United States and entered the chemical and 

research department of the Standard Oil Company's great refineries at Bayonne, 

New Jersey.  Subsequently he became chief chemist for the Atlantic Refining 

Company at Franklin, Pennsylvania, and still later was made superintendent of 

refineries for the Galena Signal Oil Company, with which corporation he continued 

Professionally identified for some years and through a vitally important period.  

An indication of the company's confidence and reliance was shown when it sent 

Doctor Lederer to take charge of its refinery at Houston, Texas, the largest 

industry of its kind at that time on the Houston Ship Channel, and he ably 

managed the plant during the World war, when it Was operated entirely fur 

military purposes.



In 1919 Doctor Lederer went with the Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies (Agwi) 

Steamship Company, as manager of that company's refineries and pipe lines in 

Mexico, and subsequently, for the same company, went to Southampton, England, 

in charge of the terminals in that city.  Upon his return to America, in 1922 

he became consulting engineer for the Invincible Oil Company of New York 

(which is the holding company of the Louisiana Oil Refining Corporation), 

and in September, 1922, he came to Shreveport to assume his duties as vice 

president in charge of refineries of the Louisiana Oil Refining Corporation.  

He has practically devoted his life to scientific investigation, and his high 

professional standing is indicated by his membership in such representative 

organizations as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; American 

Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers; American Chemical Society; 

and the American Society for the advancement of Science.



A History of Louisiana, (vol. 2), p. 135, by Henry E. Chambers.  

Published by The American Historical Society, Inc., Chicago and New York, 1925.