John D. Rockefeller was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, and he had become one of the world's wealthiest men of his time, and arguably the wealthiest in history. He used his fortune to fund ongoing philanthropic causes. His legacy began when he was sixteen years old, who greatest ambitions were to earn $100,000 and to live to be 100 years old.
Rockefeller was born July 8, 1839, in Richford, New York. At sixteen he worked at a Cleveland commission firm that bought, sold and shipped merchant in hay, meats, grains and other goods. By the age of twenty he thrived in at his job, eventually he had ventured out on his own business path with a business partner. ). Rockefeller sensed an opportunity in the oil business. With oil production ramping up in western Pennsylvania, Rockefeller decided that establishing an oil refinery near Cleveland, a short distance from
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By 1882 he had a near-monopoly of the oil business in the U.S. He was able to keep his oil prices low. With that, many more people were consuming his product preferring it over the other oil companies. With cheap oil it had helped to fuel the popularity and accessibility of cars for the growth in the middle classes. Rockefeller also impacted America by provide jobs for the unskilled workers. John D. Rockefeller was also a renowned philanthropist. Most of his charity went to the church. He also donated to educational institutions, public health causes, and medical science researches along with many others. He donated $80 million to the University of Chicago, converting it into a top-notch institution. He also founded the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research and established the Rockefeller Foundation (Rockefeller Biography). In his lifetime he had donated $540 million to numerous organizations, such as, colleges, and war relief