Harry F. Sinclair

Harry F. Sinclair was an American industrialist and oilman who founded the Sinclair Oil Corporation on May 1, 1916 by consolidating the assets of eleven smaller petroleum companies. Under his leadership the company grew rapidly, and by the end of the 1920s Sinclair Oil had become the seventh largest oil company in the United States and the largest in the American Midwest. Beyond the oil business, Sinclair was a major investor in professional sports, backing a baseball team in the short lived Federal League and building a thoroughbred racing stable that won the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes.