Signal in Space

Besides bossing the biggest independent oil company in California, ruddy Samuel Mosher, 71, the chairman of Signal Oil & Gas Co., pursues some profitable sidelines. On a 4,500-acre ranch near Santa Barbara and on an estate in Australia, he raises cymbidium orchids for florists. His Signal Oil owns a 48% interest in the globe-girdling American President Lines, which it bought at a distress sale, and he is chairman of the Flying Tiger Line which he helped to bankroll when it began 18 years ago.

One for the Book. Last week Sam Mosher ventured into outer space. In a $90 million exchange of stock Signal moved to acquire Garrett Corp., the much-sought-after manufacturer of environmental equipment for jets and space capsules. Garrett should increase Signal's profits: last year it earned $5.5 million on sales of $226 million. Signal itself earned $14.4 million on sales of $364 million.

Mosher has had his eye on Garrett for 15 years, particularly admires its president, Harry Wetzel, 43. A few weeks ago, ailing Curtiss-Wright tried to take over Garrett, offered $50 a share for 700,000 Garrett shares, or 47% of the total outstanding (TIME, Oct 18). Mosher moved in quickly, adding 100,000 shares of Garrett to the 12,000 that Signal had previously owned, thus stalling Curtiss. At this point Curtiss tried again--offering Garrett Stockholders $57 a share. Garrett's management, eager not to be swallowed up by troubled Curtiss-Wright, then sat down for three days of discussion with Signal. At the end of it, Garrett had agreed to become an independent subsidiary of Signal Oil. Unless Curtiss can stop it legally, the merger is to take effect in December.

Long Chance. Such fast moves in the past 40 years have transformed Sam Mosher from a frustrated California farmer into a successful tycoon. Struggling with his first love--raising fruit and flowers--Mosher ruefully decided that prospects might be rosier Southern California's oil fields. With $4,000 borrowed from his mother and a Government instruction booklet to guide him, Mosher in 1922 set up a small plant in Long Beach's Signal Hill oil field to wring a motor fuel ingredient out of the natural gas pumped out by the big oil companies.

Succeeding there, he moved into crude-oil production, then marketing. In 1958 Mosher took his longest chance: faced with an industry-wide oil glut that was driving out other independents, he bought up three smaller companies, forged an integrated oil company. It now includes petrochemical plants, refineries, tankers, 1,800 service stations and producing wells in the Middle East and Latin America.

Some of the time, Mosher manages this empire from an apartment over Wilshire Boulevard, where he lives with his second wife Leedja, who once was his secretary--and an old love: plenty of orchids.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.