John D. Rockefeller

American industrialist and philanthropist (1839–1937)

Source-basedStable

Lived 1839–1937, aged 98United States

United States ExecutivesInvestor

Fame48.7
Momentum0.6
United States rank#212
Executives rank#18
Wikipedia168.7K

Wikipedia
82 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in United States
#212
Executives
Era
1839–1937
Aged 98

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People connected to John D. Rockefeller

ChildJohn D. Rockefeller Jr.

Summary

Updated 2026-05-29

Built Standard Oil into a monopoly that dominated American oil refining in the late 1800s, then spent his second act giving away hundreds of millions to education and medical research.

Biography

About

John Davison Rockefeller Sr. was an American businessman and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest Americans of all time and one of the richest people in modern history. Rockefeller was born into a large family in Upstate New York who moved several times before eventually settling in Cleveland, Ohio. He became an assistant bookkeeper at age 16 and went into several business partnerships beginning at age 20, concentrating his business on oil refining. Rockefeller founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870. He ran it until 1897 and remained its largest shareholder. In his retirement, he foc…

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