In 1853 he moved with his family to a farm near Cleveland and at
        age 16 went to work as a bookkeeper. Frugal and industrious, in 1859,
        Rockefeller became a partner in a produce business, and four years
        later, with his partners, established an oil refinery, entering into
        an industry already thriving in Cleveland.
            In 1870, he and his associates, including S. V. Harkness, H. M.
        Flagler, and his brother William, organized the Standard Oil Company
        of Ohio, capitalized at $1 million. By enforcing strict economy and
        efficiency, through mergers and agreements with competitors, by
        ruthlessly crushing weaker competitors, and by accumulating large
        capital reserves, Rockefeller soon dominated the American oil-refining
        industry. Rebate agreements, which he forced from the railroads, and
        the control of pipeline distribution of refined oil strenghtened the
        near monopoly of the Standard Oil Company.
            In 1882 the diverse holdings of the various members of
        Rockefeller's combination were tied together into the Standard Oil
        trust. Court action compelled the trust to dissolve ten years later,
        but in a few years the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey was
        chartered as a holding company, with a capitalization of $110 million.
             Rockefeller was also prominent in the affairs of railroads and
        banks, being second only to J. P. Morgan in the domain of finance. In
        1901, when the United States Steel Corporation was formed, Rockefeller
        was one of the directors. In 1911 a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court
        required the holding company to dissolve and its directors to
        relinquish their control over numerous subsidiaries. Rockefeller
        personally ruled over his enormous petroleum business until 1911, when
        he retired with a fabulous fortune.
            Intensely religious, Rockefeller had an interest in philantrophy
        as deep as his interest in business. He gave generously to the Baptist
        Church, to the YMCA, and to the Anti-Saloon League. In 1892 he also
        founded the University of Chicago. The most prominent of the
        philanthropic enterprises to which he eventually turned over some $500
        million were the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, in 1901
        founded in New York City and since 1965 known as Rockefeller
        University; the General Education Board, organised in 1902 to make
        gifts to various educational and research agencies; the Rockefeller
        Foundation, established in 1913 to promote public health and to
        further the medical, natural, and social sciences; and the Laura
        Spelman Rockefeller Memorial, founded in 1918 in memory of his wife,
        for the furthering of child welfare and the social sciences. In 1909
        he wrote "Random Reminiscences of Men and Events.
 

Source:  The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2001.