Obituaries (July 12, 2004)

John Patrick O’Keefe

John Patrick O’Keefe, former general manager of Kennecott Copper Corp.’s Utah Copper Division, died in mid-June. He was 93.

O’Keefe was born the oldest of six children in New York, N.Y., in March 1911.

He graduated from Fordham University with a bachelor of arts degree in 1932 and attended New York University’s Graduate School of Business Administration.

In 1942, he married Margaret Lyons in Watertown, N.Y., while serving with the U.S. Army. After being made Captain, O’Keefe left the military and joined Kennecott in 1949 as assistant comptroller at the Chino Mines division in Hurley, N.M.

In 1950, he became assistant treasurer for the company’s former Chilean subsidiary, Braden Copper Co., and three years later was transferred to Salt Lake City, Utah, to serve as comptroller with the Utah Copper division. In 1960, he was named general manager of Utah Copper. O’Keefe retired in 1972 at the age of 61.

During his tenure in Utah, he served on the boards of Zions First National Bank, Utah United Funds, Holy Cross Hospital, and the western division board of governors of the American Mining Congress.

He served as president of the Utah Mining Association and the Salt Lake Area Chamber of Commerce. In 1969, the Utah Manufacturers Association named O’Keefe business executive of the year.

That same year, then-president Richard Nixon appointed him metropolitan chairman for the National Alliance of Businessmen’s jobs program in Utah, which enabled poorly educated inner city and migrant workers to improve their level of reading and writing in order to gain employment.

In 1971, the University of Utah conferred an honorary doctorate on O’Keefe in recognition of community service.

Under O’Keefe’s leadership, Kennecott supported educational scholarship programs for minorities, including efforts of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the Spanish-speaking Organization for Community, Integrity and Opportunity.

O’Keefe is survived by his wife Marge.

Lyle Taylor

Lyle Taylor, president and CEO of Nevada-based Geotemps, an employment agency for mining professionals, has died in a single-car accident. He was 59.

Taylor founded Geotemps in 1984 and ran the company until his passing. At the time of his death, Taylor was the president of the Spokane, Wash.-based Northwest Mining Association, and a lifetime member of that organization.

He served on the Mackay School of Earth Sciences executive advisory board at the University of Nevada in Reno, of which he was an alumnus.

He held various roles in the Nevada Mining Association, the Colorado Mining Association, and the American Mining Association, and had recently been awarded a lifetime membership to the Geological Society of Nevada.