Awards & Scholarships

Robert P. Koenig is currently Chairman of the Cerro Corporation. He is also Director of the Southern Peru Copper Corporation, the Atlantic Cement Company, the United Nuclear Corporation, the Bancroft Convertible Fund Inc., and the Cheapside Dollar Fund, Inc.

Mr. Koenig received an A.B. from Harvard University in 1924. He subsequently worked as an Assistant Geologist with the Cerro de Pasco Copper Corporation, as an Engineer with the New Verde Mines Company, as Vice President and General Manager for the Montezuma Corporation, and as Vice President and later President of the Electric Shovel Coal Corporation. In 1939 he went to the Ayrshire Collieries Corporation where he served as President and Director until 1950, with time out for service with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He attained the rank of Colonel and at one time was responsible for coal production, importation and allocation for all of Northern Europe. From 1950 to 1970 he was Director and President of the Cerro Corporation.

Mr. Koenig has served as Temporary Special Assistant to the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom, as a member of the President's Committee on Foreign Aid (1948) and as Chairman of that Committee's Minerals Resources Sub-Committee. From 1948 to 1950 he was a member and later Chairman of the National Bituminous Coal Advisory Council and also in 1948, he was Acting Director of the Industry Division of the Economic Cooperation Administration.

In the course of his career, Mr. Koenig has received decorations including the Legion of Merit of the United States, the Legion of Honor of France, the Croix de Cuerre with Palms of France, Order of the British Empire and the Croix de Cuerre with Palms of Belgium. In 1964 he presented the Sir Julius Wernher Lecture of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (London) and in 1962 he was awarded the AIME Charles F. Rand Memorial Gold Medal for distinguished achievement in mining administration.