Herbert L. Pratt

Herbert L. Pratt
Photograph of Pratt in 1918
Born	Herbert Lee Pratt (1871-11-21)November 21, 1871 Brooklyn, New York
Died	February 3, 1945(1945-02-03) (aged 73) New York, New York
Nationality	American
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Head of Standard Oil

Herbert Lee Pratt (November 21, 1871 – February 3, 1945) was an American businessman and a leading figure in the United States oil industry. In 1923, he became head of Standard Oil; his father Charles Pratt was a founder of Astral Oil Works, which later became part of Standard Oil. He lived and worked in New York City, as well as having a country estate, "The Braes" in Glen Cove, Long Island, and a hunting preserve and estate, "Good Hope Plantation" in Ridgeland, South Carolina. He was also an art collector and philanthropist.

Pratt was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1871, the fourth of six children of Mary Helen (née Richardson), his father's second wife, and Charles Pratt, the Standard Oil industrialist. His father's first wife, Lydia Richardson, had died young in 1861. He was brother to Frederic B. Pratt, George Dupont Pratt, Helen Pratt, John Teele Pratt and Harold I. Pratt. Their older half-siblings were Charles Millard Pratt and Lydia Richardson Pratt.

He took a degree of Bachelor of Arts at Amherst College in 1895.

On April 28, 1897, Pratt married Florence Balsdon Gibb (daughter of John Gibb), and they had five children:

Like his father, who was a pioneer in the independent oil industry and accepted a merger with Standard Oil, Pratt was a leading figure in the U.S. oil industry. He became head of Standard Oil Company of New York in 1923. This company eventually became Mobil.

Pratt was on the front cover of Time on June 11, 1923, when he replaced Henry Clay Folger as head of Standard Oil Company of New York. Pratt was also a director of Bankers Trust Company from 1917–38, and Asia Banking Corporation.