Thomas Lloyd Brook (January 27, 1908 – August 2, 1981) was an American-born Canadian businessman who was president of Asamera Oil Corporation and theCalgary Stampeders.
Brook was born on January 27, 1908 inPelham, New York to John Thomas and Fanny (Dean) Brook. He graduated fromAmherst College and began working for an investment business onWall Street in 1927. In 1936, he moved toToronto.[1]
In 1941, Brook became associated with the New British Dominion Oil Company of Calgary.[1] He bought into the company and refinanced and reorganized it. He became president of New British Dominion Oil in 1943. The company acquired a number of gas wells thePeace River Country, oil and gas wells inCentral Alberta, gas wells in southeastern Alberta, and oil wells in theUnited States. By 1955, New British Dominion had 175 billion cubic feet of gas reserves.[2]
In 1956, Brook was elected president of Northwest Nitro-Chemicals, a joint venture between New British Dominion andCommercial Solvents Corporation that constructed and operated a chemical plant inMedicine Hat that sold some of New British Dominion's gas asfertilizer.[3] He resigned the following year to resume full-time duties at New British Dominion.[4]
In 1957, New British Dominion entered a deal with Sea Oil and General Corp., a subsidiary of Baud Corp. N.V., to work on oil exploration inIndonesia. As a part of the deal, New British Dominion was renamed Asamera Oil Co. and Baud was given shares in the company in exchange for its oil rights in Indonesia.[5] In 1961, Asamera became the first foreign company to secure a production sharing contract in Indonesia since that country's independence.[6]
In 1948, Brook was elected president of the Calgary Stampeders. He hiredLes Lear to coach and personally guaranteed the players’ salaries. The team went undefeated in 1948 and won the36th Grey Cup.[7] The Stampeders returned to the Grey Cup in 1949, but lost to theMontreal Alouettes. At a 1949Canadian Rugby Union meeting, Brook successfully lobbied against a proposal byLew Hayman to turn the Grey Cup into a two game home-and-home series with total points determining a champion.[8] Brook was elected into theCanadian Football Hall of Fame in 1975.[7]
On May 3, 1977, Brook announced his retirement as chairman and chief executive officer of the Asamera Oil Corporation.[9] Later that month, Asmera disclosed to theUnited States Securities and Exchange Commission that Brook had a secret bank account inBermuda which contained over $1 million in company funds. Brook agreed to pay $845,513 in exchange for an Asamera subsidiary and its two partners agreeing not to pursue legal action.[10] In 1978, theSupreme Court of Canada unanimously ruled that Brook owed Baud Corp N.V. $812,500 in damages for failing to return 125,000 Asamera shares that Baud loaned him in 1957.[5] He died on August 2, 1981.[11]