Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie

Andrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1835. He emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1848 at age 12. Carnegie started work as a telegrapher, and by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges, and oil derricks. He accumulated further wealth as a bond salesman, raising money for American enterprise in Europe. He built Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J. P. Morgan in 1901 for USD 303,450,000. After selling Carnegie Steel, he surpassed John D. Rockefeller as the richest American for the next several years.

About Andrew Carnegie in brief

Summary Andrew CarnegieAndrew Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1835. He emigrated to the United States with his parents in 1848 at age 12. Carnegie started work as a telegrapher, and by the 1860s had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges, and oil derricks. He accumulated further wealth as a bond salesman, raising money for American enterprise in Europe. He built Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J. P. Morgan in 1901 for USD 303,450,000. After selling Carnegie Steel, he surpassed John D. Rockefeller as the richest American for the next several years. Carnegie devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on local libraries, world peace, education, and scientific research. He gave away USD 350 million to charities, foundations, and universities – almost 90 percent of his fortune. His 1889 article proclaiming \”The Gospel of Wealth\” called on the rich to use their wealth to improve society, and stimulated a wave of philanthropy. He died on August 11, 1919, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the age of 87. He is buried at the Carnegie Museum of Science and Industry in New York City, New York, with his wife, Margaret Morrison Carnegie, and their two children, William and Margaret Carnegie, in a plot of land donated by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Science in the City of New York. He was buried next to his brother, William Carnegie, who was also a philanthropist.

Carnegie died of lung cancer at age 89. He had a son, William, who became a well-known philanthropist and philanthropist in his own right. He also had a daughter, Peggy, who later became the first female president of the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Washington, D.C. She died of cancer in 1994 at age 83. Carnegie is buried in Pittsburgh with her husband, James Carnegie, a former president of Carnegie Mellon University, and her daughter, Margaret Carnegie-Carnegie, who died in 2007. He leaves behind a wife and four children. He will be remembered as one of the most influential men in the history of the steel industry in the U.S. and in the British Empire. Carnegie was also the first American to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1903. His family moved to Allegheny, Pennsylvania in 1846, and he went on to found the Carnegie Steel Co. in Pittsburgh in 1855. Carnegie also helped found Carnegie Hall and the Peace Palace. He later died of a heart attack at age 80 in Pittsburgh. He left a fortune of more than $1.5 billion to charities and foundations, including the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland and the Carnegie Institution for Science, among others. His last will and testament will be published by the University of Pittsburgh on November 25, 1919. Carnegie will also be remembered for his philanthropic work in the 20th century, including his foundation’s Carnegie Hall, Peace Palace, and Carnegie Museums.