Name: David Rockefeller
Date of birth: 12/06/1915
Date of death: 20/05/2017
Net worth: $3.3B
Starting point: Heir to the Rockefeller family, David was born and raised in New York City, in the tallest, at the time, residence building (eight-story). He was the youngest of 6 children of John Davison Rockefeller Jr. and Abigail Greene Aldrich.
High point:
- in 1936, he graduated from Harvard University with honours - he majored, surprisingly, in English history and literature. Post-graduate, he studied economics and managed to study abroad at the London School of Economics for a year.
Low points:
- To gain experience in the political field he was interested in, David Rockefeller worked without pay for 18 months as a secretary to Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia between 1940-1941.
- In 1942, he joined the US Army as a private.
- In 1943, he attended the Engineer Corps Officers Training School and studied military intelligence.
High point:
- In 1945, he got the rank of captain and was awarded the Italian Order of Merit, the French Legion of Honor, and the U.S. Legion of Honor.
Low point:
- After the war, he decided to gain experience in the business. In 1946, he became an assistant manager in the foreign department at the Chase National Bank.
High point:
- He became vice president of the bank by 1949.
Higher points:
- In 1951, he became senior vice president.
- Then executive vice president in 1955.
- And by 1956, he was chairman of the new New York Chamber of Commerce Committee on Lower Manhattan Redevelopment.
- Finally, in 1961, he became chairman of the board of Chase Manhattan Bank. He held that position for 20 years.
Slightly lower point:
- In 1981, he retired.
High point:
- He still remained the chairman of the international advisory committee.
Low points:
- In 1995, a significant part of the Rockefeller Centre was sold to Japan's Mitsubishi Estate Co. David Rockefeller was against this decision, but he was overruled by the rest of the Center’s trustees.
- Mitsubishi was going to declare bankruptcy of the Center, and David Rockefeller had to gather investors to get the amount to pay for their share and bring at least a part of it back to the family.
High point:
- He actually managed to get $1.2B to pay.
Higher point:
- Throughout his life and especially after his retirement, he was an avid supporter of charity programs and, an art collector.
Curious facts:
- He had 6 children, just like his father.
- Majority of the works of art he had collected were donated to MoMA.
- He was 101 years when he died.
- He was awarded the Hadrian Award of the World Mathematics Fund in 1994.
And here is a quote from him we could all live by:
“Money can add very much to one's ability to lead a constructive life, not only pleasant for oneself, but, hopefully, beneficial to others.”
