Robert J. LaFortune
American politician
Robert James LaFortune (January 24, 1927 – March 27, 2024) was an American
philanthropist and politician from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. LaFortune was mayor of Tulsa, Oklahoma from 1970 to 1978.
Early life and education
LaFortune was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on January 24, 1927, to Joseph Aloysius LaFortune and Gertrude Leona Tremel LaFortune, who had moved there in 1920 from South Bend, Indiana. Joseph worked for thirty years at Warren Petroleum Company, becoming executive vice president and a noted local philanthropist. Lafortune was Catholic.
LaFortune attended Marquette Elementary School and graduated from Cascia Hall Preparatory School in 1944. He served in the United States Merchant Marine Cadet Corps for two years. After receiving his discharge, he attended the University of Tulsa from 1946 to 1948 and then transferred to Purdue University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering in 1951.
Early career
LaFortune then joined Reilly Tar and Chemical Company, where he worked for five years before becoming a part owner of Reed Drilling Company. He also served in the U.S. Air Force Reserves for 10 years, reaching the rank of Captain.
The public source identifies “Robert J. LaFortune” as american politician. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Robert, LaFortune and American.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 11, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7345922. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1927, 2024, 1970 and 1978.
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This entry incorporates text from “Robert J. LaFortune” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.