Military service He served in the
United States Army during
World War II as a
Field Artillery officer with the
10th Mountain Division in Italy. In 1953, Warner was recruited to join
Socony-Vacuum Oil Company as the assistant to the vice president of finance in one of the company's divisions based in
Fort Lee, New Jersey. He later transferred to the parent company as its economics department manager. Later he managed Socony's Middle East department and was elected regional vice president of Mobil International Oil Company, one of Socony's divisions, in 1964. After only twelve years working for Socony, Warner was elected president of the renamed Socony Mobil Oil Company on January 1, 1965, replacing Herbert Willetts. On September 1, 1969, Warner was elected chairman and CEO of Mobil, replacing
Albert Nickerson. He is attributed as leading Mobil's corporate sponsorship. Warner helped start Mobil's sponsorship of
PBS's
Masterpiece Theatre, a relationship that spanned from the 1970s to 2004. ==Other efforts==