John D. Rockefeller Sr.

Birth Name:

John Davison Rockefeller

Birth Date:

July 8, 1839

Birth Place:

Richford, New York

Death Date:

May 23, 1937

Place of Death:

The Casements, Ormond Beach, Florida

Age:

Cause of Death:

Arteriosclerosis

Cemetery Name:

Lakeview Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Business and Finance

There’s rich, there’s wealthy, and then there’s John D. Rockefeller. Considered by many to be the most financially-prosperous individual in modern history with an estimated $900,000,000 bank balance (unadjusted for inflation) in the early 1910s, Rockefeller made his massive fortune by dominating the oil industry. While Rockefeller was prone to controversy—he was accused of being a monopoly in the fuel business—he was also a generous philanthropist, donating over a half-billion dollars in his lifetime (and that's also unadjusted for inflation).

Fun Fact:

Due to be drafted to serve the Union in the Civil War in 1863, the 23-year-old Rockefeller did what many men of means had done: He paid for someone to serve in his place. This practice was allowed by the U.S. government, which granted draftees the ability to offer up a substitute. No record exists of who the man who took Rockefeller’s spot was. His brother, Frank, chose to serve at age 16, telling a recruiting sergeant he was 18. Despite being wounded in battle, he survived.