John D. Rockefeller

John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American capitalist most known for his role in the early petroleum industry and the founding of Standard Oil (ExxonMobil is the largest of its descendants). Through a number of widely-criticized business tactics, Rockefeller built Standard Oil into the largest oil refining business in the world, and was for a time himself the richest man in the United States. Much of this wealth was then given away, resulting in his legacy as a great philanthropist.

External links

• The History of the Standard Oil Company, by Ida Tarbell, full text, HTML
• Timeline of the Rockefeller family history since his birth
• A genealogy of his family
• Illustrated article about John D Rockefeller and the Standard Oil Company