Martin Resource Management Corporation through its various subsidiaries (“MRMC”) is an independent provider of marketing and distribution of fuel oil, asphalt, diesel fuel and high-quality naphthenic lubricants. MRMC markets over 250 million gallons of diesel fuel and lubricants per year along the Gulf Coast and over 1.5 million barrels of naphthenic lubricants and base oils per year throughout the United States.
That is quite a statement when you consider its founder, R.S. Martin, Jr., started with a single truck and the simple desire to make a living for his family. Born in Camden, Arkansas, Martin graduated from Texarkana, Arkansas High School in 1941 and attended the University of Arkansas until volunteering for the Marine Corps in 1943. As a Marine, he served in the 4th Marine Division in four World War II invasions: Marshall Island, Saipan, Tinian and Iwo Jima.
Returning to the University of Arkansas in 1946, he married Margaret Gerig of Arkadelphia, Arkansas, before graduating in 1948 with a business degree with a specialty in marketing.
In 1951, with borrowed money, R.S. started Martin Butane Company in Kilgore, Texas. He drove the only truck and his wife kept books and handled the billing. R.S. persevered with his dream of supplying fuel to drilling rigs in the East Texas oil field.
R.S. Martin could not possibly have foreseen the growth his small Martin Butane Company would experience. When he retired 35 years after buying that first truck, the company had grown to more than 1,600 employees and $500 million in annual sales. R.S. Martin died on September 20, 1999, leaving a legacy of entrepreneurship, hard work and determination that remain MRMC’s hallmarks.
On November 6, 2002, MRMC sold a portion of its assets in a public offering. Martin Midstream Partners L.P. (“MMLP”) is a publicly held master limited partnership, listed as MMLP on the NASDAQ. The company R.S. Martin founded 50 years before is the majority owner of the General Partner of MMLP and a significant owner of MMLP’s limited partnership units.