In Remembrance: Stanley H Harbison ’82MPPM Died on April 17 2014

Stanley Howard Harbison, 66, died of a heart attack at Memorial Hermann Hospital on April 17, 2014. Stan was born on October 27, 1947. He attended Bethany Elementary School in Bethany, CT and Amity Jr. and Sr. High School in nearby Amity, CT. During his childhood, Stan had the opportunity to spend a year living and studying in both India and London during his stepfather’s sabbaticals from the Yale Divinity School. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Religion from Wesleyan University in 1969 and a Masters of Education from the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. 

At the start of his career, Stan worked for an organization called Teachers Inc. He taught elementary and high school in the NYC Public School system for ten years. While teaching he received a National Endowment for the Arts grant to attend St. Johns College in Santa Fe, NM where he earned a second Master’s in Liberal Arts (Great Books). Eventually, Stan decided to change careers and attended the Yale School of Management, earning a Master’s in Public and Private Management (MPPM) in 1982. 

After graduating from Yale, he worked at Scudder, Stevens and Clark for 20 years becoming an expert on the oil industry. He led investment decisions of a $3 billion energy portfolio. More recently he had served as Manager – Investor Relations at BP, Senior Energy Analyst at HSBC Securities, and Director – Global Oil and Gas Supply Demand Analysis at Louis Dreyfus Energy Services. 

Throughout his career in the Oil & Gas industry he visited and met with business and government officials in more than 20 countries. This includes a trip to Iran for a rare one week visit to discuss oil issues with Iranian government officials. He separately accompanied a major international oil company for a one week visit to oil installations and government offices in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. There, he attended 7 OPEC meetings, meeting with leading oil officials from Middle East Gulf countries. In 2002, he was asked by the International Energy Agency to head up the Oil Market Report division on world oil supply. At BP, he assisted top BP management in presenting their large Russian oil acquisition to the public in 2003.

Stan is survived by his wife Sandra Harbison, his sons Jonathan and Taylor, his brother Don Harbison, his stepfather Norvin Hein, step siblings Lisa and Chris, and half-sister Meg.

-Submitted by Sandra Harbison