residence death_place death_date predecessor birth_place successor profession office birth_date term_start spouse article_title term_end name alma_mater
bartlesville , oklahoma bartlesville , oklahoma 24 august 1987 j. b. milam dalhart , texas ross swimmer chemical chief engineer , oil company executive , cherokee principal principal petroleum corporation chief of the cherokee nation chairman of phillips 5 april 1908 1949 1968 ruby lucille hamilton w. w. keeler
 1975 1973 william wayne `` bill '' keeler university of kansas
w. w. keeler

william wayne keeler -lrb- 1908 - 1989 -rrb- is best known as the last appointed and first elected principal chief of the cherokee nation in the 20th century .
educated as a chemical engineer , he worked for phillips petroleum company , where he became chief executive officer at the end of a long career with the company .
he was one-sixteenth cherokee , and throughout his life he also worked in the federal government for the advancement of indians .
president truman appointed him as principal chief of the oklahoma cherokees in 1949 .
in 1971 , he became the cherokees ' first elected chief since 1903 .
keeler created tribal institutions such as the cherokee nation builders corporation and a national cherokee newspaper .
he helped establish the cherokee foundation and attain $ 14 million from the federal government over a land dispute .
he led the drafting of a new cherokee constitution in 1975 .
