Philanthropy
After his retirement, John Rockefeller endeavored to help others in any way he could, although he usually gave out funds. He was quite well known due to the ubiquitous hatred of his company, Standard Oil. This reputation began to be negated as Rockefeller started to receive letters requesting donations and took heed of their requests. He earned a new reputation as a philanthropist because he did follow through with some of the requests.
In 1912 Rockefeller's fortune topped out at $900,000,000, which would have been well into the billions if he hadn't had already donated hundreds of millions of dollars. The University of Chicago alone received $75 million dollars from Rockefeller. He was highly focused on education, and gave around $175 million to educational causes. $50 million of that was to raise teachers' salaries which were extremely low in wake of WWI. Another focus of Rockefeller was the medical field: with his funding, the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission eradicated the hookworm in the Southern U.S.
Rockefeller also created the Rockefeller Foundation and gave it $235 million. The R.F. is still active today, working to advance health, revalue ecosystems, secure livelihoods, and transform cities.
By the time John Rockefeller died on May 23, 1937, his estate's value was only $26,410,837 because he had given most of his fortune to various philanthropies or to heirs. Unfortunately, he wasn't given nearly enough credit due to his fairly unethical business methods.
After his retirement, John Rockefeller endeavored to help others in any way he could, although he usually gave out funds. He was quite well known due to the ubiquitous hatred of his company, Standard Oil. This reputation began to be negated as Rockefeller started to receive letters requesting donations and took heed of their requests. He earned a new reputation as a philanthropist because he did follow through with some of the requests.
In 1912 Rockefeller's fortune topped out at $900,000,000, which would have been well into the billions if he hadn't had already donated hundreds of millions of dollars. The University of Chicago alone received $75 million dollars from Rockefeller. He was highly focused on education, and gave around $175 million to educational causes. $50 million of that was to raise teachers' salaries which were extremely low in wake of WWI. Another focus of Rockefeller was the medical field: with his funding, the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission eradicated the hookworm in the Southern U.S.
Rockefeller also created the Rockefeller Foundation and gave it $235 million. The R.F. is still active today, working to advance health, revalue ecosystems, secure livelihoods, and transform cities.
By the time John Rockefeller died on May 23, 1937, his estate's value was only $26,410,837 because he had given most of his fortune to various philanthropies or to heirs. Unfortunately, he wasn't given nearly enough credit due to his fairly unethical business methods.