William Balser Skirvin (November 10, 1860 – March 25, 1944)[1] was an American real estate developer and oil millionaire.
[2] He is best known for his establishment of the Skirvin Hotel, an Oklahoma City landmark now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
[1] Skirvin returned to Oklahoma in 1906 to engage in both oil and real estate endeavors.
In 1931 he and his family began a second hotel, the Skirvin Tower, but due to the economic instability of the era, it was not completed until 1938; it was converted into an office building in the 1970s.
[1] His daughter, Perle Mesta, married a wealthy Pittsburgh businessman; widowed in 1925, she inherited her husband's fortune and became a socialite, political hostess, and U.S. ambassador to Luxembourg (1949–1953) under President Harry S Truman.