Retired Air Force Major General James G. Randolph, who once worked for Kerr McGee in Oklahoma City and later was an Assistant Secretary of Energy for Fossil Fuel at the U.S. Energy Department died earlier in January at Bethesda, Maryland.
He was 90, Randolph finished his Air Force Career as Commander of the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker Air Force Base then joined Kerr McGee in Oklahoma City as President of the Kerr McGee Coal Corporation from 1976 to 1989.
His obituary stated that in 1984, he took on the company’s responsibilities for the corporation’s uranium mining, milling and conversion business. He retired from Kerr McGee in 1989 then became Assistant Secretary of Energy for Fossil Fuel for the U.S. Energy Department in 1991.
As Assistant Secretary, Randolph oversaw the federal government’s progress in advanced coal, oil and natural gas technologies. He was also responsible for the nation’s Strategic Oil Reserve, the Naval Petroleum Reserve and the government’s authorization of imports and exports of natural gas.
Randolph left the position in 1993 when President Clinton was sworn into office. He later traveled and worked extensively in Russia and Kazakhstan under the US Department of Commerce efforts to bring modern mining technology to the former Soviet countries.
He will be buried in Flint, Michigan and a memorial will be held in the fall of 2021 in Washington, D.C.