John D. Rockefeller – Titan of Industry and Philanthropy

How the Standard Oil founder’s legacy of generosity paved the way for today’s billionaires

- By Keith Gordon

There is perhaps no magnate who can be said to have had as important, and lasting, an impact on the modern world of business as John D. Rockefeller, whose influence is still felt on the American and global economy 120 years after his retirement. Most importantly, Standard Oil, the company he founded in 1870, not only built the modern energy industry, but created the architecture for today’s multinational corporations. A century later, elements of Standard Oil live on as ExxonMobil, Chevron and many other companies that still dominate the global energy sector. Wealth from Standard Oil built major cities including Miami Beach, and funded some of the nation’s most dominant banks. And Rockefeller’s charitable foundation set the stage for modern philanthropy, medicine, and education, and tackled the greatest issues facing mankind in the 20th century.

Philanthropy became Rockefeller’s passion following his retirement from business at the age of 60—he lived to be 97—and he paved the way for the charitable initiatives that are so fashionable among billionaires today. Take, for example, the Giving Pledge, first established in 2010 and signed by dozens of the richest and most successful entrepreneurs in America. Since then, the charitable initiative has spread, not only to dozens of other American billionaires, but to some of the highest-net-worth individuals around the world who have taken a pledge to donate the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.