John D. (John Davison) Rockefeller

Born in Richford, New York, in 1839, Rockefeller began working young and started out as a bookkeeper in Cleveland. He entered the oil business in the 1860s and, in 1870, helped found Standard Oil, the company that made his name and reshaped the American petroleum industry.

Standard Oil grew with extraordinary speed and power, and Rockefeller became known both for his business discipline and for the fierce criticism his company drew as it came to dominate the market. His wealth became legendary, and his career still sits at the center of debates about monopoly, competition, and the rise of big business in the United States.

Later in life, he devoted much of his fortune to philanthropy. Sources from Britannica and the Rockefeller Archive Center credit him with helping found or support major institutions including the University of Chicago, the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, and the Rockefeller Foundation. He died in Ormond Beach, Florida, in 1937.