F.H. “MICK” MERELLI ’59

PE Hall of Fame Class of 2024

F.H. “Mick” Merelli distinguished himself throughout an extraordinary career in the oil and gas industry that spanned more than 50 years and saw him work his way up from a field engineer to a widely respected chief executive.  

Merelli earned a professional degree in petroleum engineering from Mines in 1959. 

He started out as a field engineer in Wyoming for a company that would become part of Tulsa-based Terra Resources. He was vice president of Terra and became president and CEO three years later. In 1988, he became president and COO at Apache and then president and CEO at Key Co. In 2002, Key Production Company merged with the oil and gas subsidiary of Tulsa-based Helmerich & Payne to form Cimarex Energy. Mick served as Cimarex’s president and CEO and chairman of Cimarex for 10 years.  

Merelli’s business philosophy was rooted in the conviction that a company should create real value through drilling and production and that an executive’s responsibility was to make a company not simply more profitable, but genuinely better. He placed individual talent at the center of this quest and always promoted a culture of innovation, independent thought and personal initiative—often pushing others to exceed their own expectations of themselves. Several of his former proteges have become senior executives in the oil and gas industry.  

The F.H. Mick Merelli/Cimarex Energy Distinguished Petroleum Engineering Department Head Chair was established in his honor. It was the first endowed chair at Mines, currently held by Petroleum Engineering Department Head Jennifer Miskimins. He also earned the Mines Distinguished Achievement Medal. 

Merelli passed away in 2012. 

Contributions to Mines and Awards 

  • PE Visiting Committee  
  • Supported The Mines Fund and Petroleum Engineering department 

Industry Awards

  • Wildcatter of the Year by the Independent Petroleum Assoc. of Mountain States

Professional Societies

  • National Petroleum Council 
  • Oil and Gas Association 
  • American Institute of Mining Engineers 
  • Society of Petroleum Engineers

Contributions to Society

  • Denver Art Museum supporter 
  • Steadman Hawkins Research Foundation supporter