General Notes

Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York, on July 8, 1839, and educated in
the public schools of Cleveland, Ohio. He became a bookkeeper in Cleveland
at the age of 16. In 1862 he went into business with Samuel Andrews, the
inventor of an inexpensive process for the refinement of crude petroleum.
After rapid expansion, the firm was superseded in 1870 by the Standard Oil
Company, organized by Rockefeller, his brother William (1841-1922), and
several associates.

In early 1872 Rockefeller helped form the South Improvement Company, an
association of the largest oil refiners in Cleveland, arranging with the
railroads for substantial rebates on shipments by members of the
association. The arrangement was cancelled in three months, after popular
protest, but most of Rockefeller's competitors in Cleveland had already been
forced to sell out to his combine. By 1878 Rockefeller had control of 90
percent of the oil refineries in the U.S. and soon afterward a virtual
monopoly of the marketing facilities.

In 1882 Rockefeller formed the Standard Oil Trust. This, the first corporate
trust, was declared an illegal monopoly and ordered dissolved by the Ohio
Supreme Court in 1892, but actual dissolution was not effected until 1899.
In that year, Rockefeller established the Standard Oil Company of New
Jersey, remaining its president until he retired in 1911. In 1911 the
company was broken into separate corporations by an antitrust decision of
the U.S. Supreme Court.

At its peak, Rockefeller's personal fortune was estimated at almost $1
billion. The total amount of his philanthropic contributions was about $550
million. Some 80 percent of these funds was given to four charitable
organizations founded by Rockefeller. These were the Rockefeller Foundation;
the General Education Board; the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research
(now Rockefeller University); and the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial,
established in 1918 and incorporated into the Rockefeller Foundation in
1929. Rockefeller died at Ormond Beach, Florida, May 23, 1937.