John D. Rockefeller Jr.

American financier and philanthropist (1874-1960) · United States · Founders · Died at 86

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The son who turned the Standard Oil fortune into stone and glass: Rockefeller Center, Colonial Williamsburg, half a billion dollars scattered across causes his father's monopoly made possible. The name carried forward, and so did the stain - Ludlow hung over him for decades.

Executives Investor Investing Entrepreneurship United States Americas 19th Century

A life in dates

1960Died11 May 19601956“I was born into it [wealth] and there was nothing I could do about it. It was there, like air or food or any other element. The only question with wealth is what to do with it.”In their wordsQuotes of John D. Rockefeller from John D. Rockefeller, Jr: A Portrait (1956) by Raymond Blaine FosdickRead the whole statement

“I took responsibility early and, like my parents, I was serious.”In their wordsQuotes of John D. Rockefeller from John D. Rockefeller, Jr: A Portrait (1956) by Raymond Blaine FosdickRead the whole statement

1950Audubon MedalAward1943NAS Public Welfare MedalAward1932“As for charity, it is injurious unless it helps the recipient become independent of it.”In their wordsInterview with Samuel Johnson Woolf, quoted in Drawn from Life (1932)Read the whole statement

1904“The American Beauty Rose can be produced in the splendor and fragrance which bring cheer to its beholder only by sacrificing the early buds which grow up around it.”In their wordsAddress to the students of Brown University, quoted in Ida Tarbell (1904) The History of the Standard Oil CompanyRead the whole statement

1874Born29 January 1874

Also in Deutsch

Photos 8

John D. Rockefeller Jr. cph.3a03736

1914 Art Young Rockefeller cartoon

1914 Caught Red-Handed by John Sloan

2016 Fort Tryon Park playground plaque

As seen from the boxes - Keppler. LCCN2011645811

Bringing-in-the-Teddy-Turk

Bundesarchiv Bild 102-08739, John D. Rockefeller auf dem Weg nach London

Calvin Coolidge with Judge Elbert Henry Gary and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. LCCN92520275

In their own words 10

John D. Rockefeller Jr.

10 statements, newest first

I was born into it [wealth] and there was nothing I could do about it. It was there, like air or food or any other element. The only question with wealth is what to do with it.
1956, Quotes of John D. Rockefeller from John D. Rockefeller, Jr: A Portrait (1956) by Raymond Blaine Fosdick, Own words
I took responsibility early and, like my parents, I was serious.
1956, Quotes of John D. Rockefeller from John D. Rockefeller, Jr: A Portrait (1956) by Raymond Blaine Fosdick, Own words
As for charity, it is injurious unless it helps the recipient become independent of it.
1932, Interview with Samuel Johnson Woolf, quoted in Drawn from Life (1932), Own words

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Awards

Audubon Medal1950

NAS Public Welfare Medal1943

Family

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John D. Rockefeller Jr.

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About this person

John Davison Rockefeller Jr. was born January 29, 1874, the only son of Standard Oil's co-founder, and spent his life reshaping what that inheritance meant. He became one of Manhattan's largest real estate holders by developing Rockefeller Center, the vast Midtown office complex that redrew the city's skyline. He bankrolled the reconstruction of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia and gave more than $500 million to educational institutions and other causes. But the Colorado Coalfield War shadowed him: he was widely blamed for orchestrating the Ludlow Massacre and other violence tied to the family's mining interests. He fathered six children - Abby, John III, Nelson, Laurance, Winthrop, and David - and died May 11, 1960, having spent a lifetime trying to spend his way past the source of the money.

Country

United States