John Davison Rockefeller Sr. was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is widely considered the wealthiest American of all time, and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870, and remained its largest shareholder until 1897. His fortune was mainly used to create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy through the creation of foundations. His foundations pioneered developments in medical research and were instrumental in the near-eradication of hookworm and yellow fever.
About John D. Rockefeller in brief
John Davison Rockefeller Sr. was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He is widely considered the wealthiest American of all time, and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870, and remained its largest shareholder until 1897. His fortune was mainly used to create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy through the creation of foundations. His foundations pioneered developments in medical research and were instrumental in the near-eradication of hookworm and yellow fever in the United States. Rockefeller spent much of the last 40 years of his life in retirement at his estate in Westchester County, New York, defining the structure of modern philanthropy. His peak net worth was estimated at US$418 billion in 1913, which was almost 3% of the US GDP of USD 39. 1 billion that year. He was a devout Northern Baptist and supported many church-based institutions. He adhered to total abstinence from alcohol and tobacco throughout his life. For advice, he relied closely on his wife Laura Spelman Rockefeller with whom he had five children. Throughout his life, Bill was notorious for his shady schemes, which included bigamy and double life. He also put up with his philandering and philandering wife frequently for extended periods of time. John, John, Bill and Nancy Brown had a daughter named Clorinda who died young. John was also known as ‘Big Bill’ and described by locals as ‘Unshackled by conventional morality, led by conventional, vagabond existence’ and ‘Big Will’ He died on December 31, 1913, at the age of 87.
He had an elder sister named Lucy and four younger siblings: William Jr., Mary, and twins Franklin and Frances. His father was of English and German descent, while his mother was of Ulster Scot descent. Bill was first a lumberman and then a traveling salesman who identified himself as a \”botanic physician\” who sold elixirs. His mother was a homemaker who struggled to maintain a semblance of stability at home, as she taught her son that waste makes her son ‘willful by nature and makes her wasteful by necessity, and she taught him that she was woifty by necessity and makes waste by nature, and that she made no effort to waste anything. He died of a heart attack on December 30, 1914, at age 87, at his home in New York City, and was buried on December 29, 1914. His wife Laura and their five children survived him, but he died of lung cancer on December 28, 1915. His death was followed by a series of strokes and he died in 1916 at age 89. His son John Rockefeller Jr. was born on December 27, 1916, in Cleveland, Ohio, and grew up to become a successful businessman and philanthropic leader. He became the richest man in the country, controlling 90% of all oil in the U.S. at his peak. His wealth soared as kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, and he became the country’s first billionaire.
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