Gordon Getty

Gordon Peter Getty was born in Los Angeles in 1933, a son of the oilman J. Paul Getty. By 1934 J. Paul Getty was in his fourth marriage and had four sons; Gordon’s brothers included George Franklin GettyGeorge Franklin GettyGeorge Franklin Getty (1855–1930) was an American lawyer and oil businessman who began investing in Oklahoma oil in 1903 and founded Minnehoma Oil Company; he was the father of oil businessman and art collector J. Paul Getty.Open the full entry II, Eugene Paul (Paul) and Jean Ronald (Ronald). He has lived in San Francisco since 1945, and music has been his passion since boyhood.⁠[1][2][3]

In 1934 J. Paul Getty and his mother, Sarah C. Getty, created the Sarah C. Getty Trust to preserve the business of Getty Oil Company; Gordon Getty is one of its income beneficiaries.⁠[2]

In 1956 he graduated in English literature from the University of San Francisco.⁠[1]

As a young man Gordon Getty worked in his father’s Getty companies but abruptly quit twice. In 1959, while heading Getty operations in the Neutral Zone, he was tried and convicted for a minor offence committed by a Getty employee.⁠[3]

In 1961 and 1962 he studied theory under Sol Joseph at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He then married and went back to work for his father, completing nothing new for 18 years.⁠[1]

In 1964 Gordon Getty married Ann Gilbert; the couple had four sons.⁠[3]

After J. Paul Getty died in 1976, Gordon Getty and C. Lansing Hays Jr. served together as trustees of the Sarah C. Getty Trust under its terms; Security Pacific, the other named successor trustee, withdrew.⁠[3][2]

When Hays died on May 10, 1982, Gordon Getty became sole trustee of the Sarah C. Getty Trust, controlling its roughly 40.2% stake in Getty Oil. He sought to close what he called “the value gap” between Getty Oil’s share price of around $50 and the much higher value he believed its assets were worth, and was often the lone dissenter on the board.⁠[3][2]

In 1984 his first opera, Plump Jack, built around the character Falstaff, was premiered by the San Francisco Symphony.⁠[4][3]

Gordon Getty initially backed a leveraged buyout by Pennzoil, which agreed to buy about three-sevenths of Getty Oil’s shares at $110 a share, but the deal was displaced by Texaco’s higher bid. On February 17, 1984, acting as trustee, he sold the trust’s Getty Oil stock to Texaco at $128 a share for more than $4 billion; Texaco paid more than $10 billion for Getty Oil as a whole.⁠[3][2][5]

The trust’s income rose sharply after the sale, and in 1984 he received about $110 million of income from the trust plus a trustee’s fee. Some relatives challenged his role: the guardian of his nephew Tara sought the appointment of a co-trustee, and his nieces sought his removal and damages.⁠[3]

Pennzoil sued Texaco over its intervention in the Getty Oil deal. On November 19, 1985, a jury returned a verdict for Pennzoil, finding actual damages of $7.53 billion and punitive damages of $3 billion. On April 6, 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Pennzoil Co. v. Texaco, Inc.⁠[5]

In 1986 he was named a Kennedy Center “Outstanding American Composer.”⁠[6]

On November 13, 1986, the daughters of George F. Getty II petitioned for the partial and temporary removal and suspension of Gordon Getty’s powers as trustee. On January 27, 1987, the trial court granted the petition in part and appointed a “trustee ad litem” to handle certain third-party lawsuits. On October 17, 1988, the California Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment in Getty v. Getty.⁠[2]

In 2010 his orchestral works were recorded by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields conducted by Sir Neville Marriner.⁠[4]

In 2014 his opera Usher House, based on Edgar Allan Poe, was premiered by Welsh National Opera in Cardiff; San Francisco Opera staged it in 2015.⁠[4][7][8]

In 2015 his opera The Canterville Ghost, based on Oscar Wilde, was first produced by Leipzig Opera in Germany. Plump Jack, Usher House and The Canterville Ghost have all been released on SACD by the Pentatone label.⁠[4][7]

In 2019 he received the European Culture Prize.⁠[4][7]

In November 2021 his opera Goodbye, Mr. Chips premiered in cinematic form at the Mill Valley Film Festival.⁠[4]

In July 2024 his Old Man Trilogy, three choral settings of his own poetry, was premiered at Festival Napa Valley.⁠[7]

In January 2025 a new recording of Goodbye, Mr. Chips was released on the Pentatone label.⁠[7]

As of October 2026 Gordon Getty had written more than 40 works, published by Rork Music, including the cantata Joan and the Bells on the trial and execution of Joan of Arc, the Ancestor Suite, given its first staging by the Bolshoi Ballet, and The White Election, a song cycle on poems by Emily Dickinson. He had been inducted into OPERA America’s Opera Hall of Fame and received honours including the League of American Orchestras’ Gold Baton and San Francisco Opera’s “Spirit of the Opera” award.⁠[7][4]

Personal website: Public link: https://www.gordongetty.com/ (opens in a new window)⁠[7]