Rockefeller family explained

Rockefeller family
Region:New York, U.S.
Origin:Rhineland, Germany
Founder:Johann Peter Rockefeller
Otherfamilies:Aldrich family
McCormick family
Stillman family
Estate:Kykuit
The Casements
Rockwood Hall
Tryon Hall

The Rockefeller family is an American industrial, political, and banking family that owns one of the world's largest fortunes. The fortune was made in the American petroleum industry during the late 19th and early 20th centuries by brothers John D. Rockefeller and William A. Rockefeller Jr., primarily through Standard Oil (the predecessor of ExxonMobil and Chevron Corporation).[1] The family had a long association with, and control of, Chase Manhattan Bank.[2] By 1987, the Rockefellers were considered one of the most powerful families in American history.[3] The Rockefeller family originated in Rhineland in Germany and family members moved to the Americas in the early 18th century, while through Eliza Davison, with family roots in Middlesex County, New Jersey, John D. Rockefeller and William A. Rockefeller Jr. and their descendants are also of Scots-Irish ancestry.[4]

Background

The Rockefeller family originated in the Rhineland region in Germany and can be traced to the town Neuwied in the early 17th century. The American family branch is descended from Johann Peter Rockefeller (1681-1763), who migrated from the Rhineland to Philadelphia in the Province of Pennsylvania around 1723. In the US, he became a plantation owner and landholder in Somerville, and Amwell, New Jersey.[5] [6] [7]

One of the first members of the Rockefeller family in New York was businessman William A. Rockefeller Sr., who was born to a Protestant family in Granger, New York. He had six children with his first wife Eliza Davison, a daughter of a Scots-Irish farmer, the most prominent of which were oil tycoons John D. Rockefeller and William A. Rockefeller Jr., the co-founders of Standard Oil. John D. Rockefeller (known as "Senior", as opposed to his son John D. Rockefeller Jr., known as "Junior") was a devout Northern Baptist, and he supported many church-based institutions.[8] [9] While the Rockefeller family are mostly Baptists,[10] [11] some of the Rockefellers were Episcopalians.[12]

Wealth

The combined wealth of the family - their total assets and investments plus the individual wealth of its members - has never been known with any precision. The records of the family archives relating to both the family and individual members' net worth are closed to researchers.[13]

From the outset, the family's wealth has been under the complete control of the male members of the dynasty, through the family office. Despite strong-willed wives who had influence over their husbands' decisions—such as the pivotal female figure Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, wife of John D. Rockefeller Jr.—in all cases they received allowances only and were never given even partial responsibility for the family fortune.[14]

Much of the wealth has been locked up in the family trust of 1934 (which holds the bulk of the fortune and matures on the death of the fourth generation) and the trust of 1952, both administered by Chase Bank, the corporate successor to Chase Manhattan Bank. These trusts have consisted of shares in the successor companies to Standard Oil and other diversified investments, as well as the family's considerable real estate holdings. They are administered by a trust committee that oversees the fortune.

Management of this fortune today also rests with professional money managers who oversee the principal holding company, Rockefeller Financial Services, which controls all the family's investments. The Rockefeller Center is no longer owned by the family. Its present chairman and patriarch is David Rockefeller Jr.

In 1992, it had five main arms:

Real estate and institutions

The family was heavily involved in numerous real estate construction projects in the U.S. during the 20th century.[16] Chief among them:

Residences

Over the generations, the family members have resided in some historic homes. A total of 81 Rockefeller residences are on the National Register of Historic Places.[23] Not including all homes owned by the five brothers, some of the more prominent of these residences are:

Politics

Prominent banker David Rockefeller Sr. was the family patriarch until his death in 2017. In 1960, when his brother Nelson Rockefeller was governor of New York, David Sr. successfully pressed for a repeal of a New York state law that restricted Chase Manhattan Bank from operating outside the city. David Sr. was twice offered the post of Treasury secretary by President Richard M. Nixon, but declined on both occasions. In 1979, he used his high-level contacts to bring Mohammad Reza Shah of Iran, who had been overthrown in the Iranian Revolution and was in poor health, for medical treatment in the United States. In 1998, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton for his work on International Executive Service Corps.[27]

Political offices held

Legacy

A trademark of the dynasty over its 140-plus years has been the remarkable unity it has maintained, despite major divisions that developed in the late 1970s, and unlike other wealthy families such as the Du Ponts and the Mellons. A primary reason has been the lifelong efforts of "Junior" to not only cleanse the name from the disgrace stemming from the ruthless practices of Standard Oil but his tireless efforts to forge family unity even as he allowed his five sons to operate independently. This was partly achieved by regular brothers and family meetings, but it was also because of the high value placed on family unity by first Nelson and John III, and later especially with David.[28]

Regarding achievements, in 1972, on the 100th anniversary of the founding of Andrew Carnegie's philanthropy, the Carnegie Corporation, which has had a long association with the family and its institutions, released a public statement on the influence of the family on not just philanthropy but encompassing a much wider field. Summing up a predominant view among the international philanthropic world, albeit one poorly grasped by the public, one sentence of this statement read: "The contributions of the Rockefeller family are staggering in their extraordinary range and in the scope of their contribution to humankind."[29]

John D. Rockefeller gave away US$540 million over his lifetime (in dollar terms of that time), and became the greatest lay benefactor of medicine in history.[30] His son, Junior, also gave away over $537 million over his lifetime, bringing the total philanthropy of just two generations of the family to over $1 billion from 1860 to 1960.[31] Added to this, The New York Times declared in a report in November 2006 that David Rockefeller's total charitable benefactions amount to about $900 million over his lifetime.[32]

The combined personal and social connections of the various family members are vast, both in the United States and throughout the world, including the most powerful politicians, royalty, public figures, and chief businessmen. Figures through Standard Oil alone have included Henry Flagler and Henry H. Rogers. Contemporary figures include Henry Kissinger, Richard Parsons (chairman and CEO of Time Warner), C. Fred Bergsten, Peter G. Peterson (Senior Chairman of the Blackstone Group), and Paul Volcker.

In 1991, the family was presented with the Honor Award from the National Building Museum for four generations worth of preserving and creating some of the U.S.'s most important buildings and places. David accepted the award on the family's behalf.[33] The ceremony coincided with an exhibition on the family's contributions to the built environment, including John Sr.'s preservation efforts for the Hudson River Palisades, the restoration of Williamsburg, Virginia, construction of Rockefeller Center, and Governor Nelson's efforts to construct low- and middle-income housing in New York state.[34]

The Rockefeller name is imprinted in numerous places throughout the United States, including within New York City, but also in Cleveland, where the family originates:

John Jr., through his son Nelson, purchased and then donated the land upon which sits the United Nations headquarters, in New York, in 1946. Earlier, in the 1920s, he had also donated a substantial amount towards the restoration and rehabilitation of major buildings in France after World War I, such as the Rheims Cathedral, the Fontainebleau Palace and the Palace of Versailles, for which he was later (1936) awarded France's highest decoration, the Grand Croix of the Legion d'Honneur (subsequently also awarded decades later to his son, David Rockefeller).

He also funded the excavations at Luxor in Egypt, as well as establishing a Classical Studies School in Athens. In addition, he provided the funding for the construction of the Palestine Archaeological Museum in East Jerusalem - the Rockefeller Museum.[36]

Conservation

Beginning with John D. Rockefeller Sr., the family has been a major force in land conservation. Over the generations, it has created more than 20 national parks and open spaces, including the Cloisters, Acadia National Park, Forest Hill Park, the Nature Conservancy, the Rockefeller Forest in California's Humboldt Redwoods State Park (the largest stand of old-growth redwoods), and Grand Teton National Park, among many others. John Jr., and his son Laurance (and his son Laurance Jr. aka Larry) were particularly prominent in this area.

The family was honoured for its conservation efforts in November 2005, by the National Audubon Society, one of the United States' largest and oldest conservation organizations, at which over 30 family members attended. At the event, the society's president, John Flicker, stated: "Cumulatively, no other family in America has made the contribution to conservation that the Rockefeller family has made".[37]

In 2016 fifth-generation descendants of John Sr. criticized ExxonMobil, one of the successors to his company Standard Oil, for their record on climate change. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Rockefeller Family Fund both backed reports suggesting that ExxonMobil knew more about the threat of global warming than it had disclosed. David Kaiser, grandson of David Rockefeller Sr. and president of the Rockefeller Family Fund, said that the "...company seems to be morally bankrupt." Valerie Rockefeller Wayne, daughter of former Senator Jay Rockefeller, said, "Because the source of the family wealth is fossil fuels, we feel an enormous moral responsibility for our children, for everyone -- to move forward."[38] The Rockefeller Brothers Fund announced it was divesting from fossil fuels in September 2014, the Rockefeller Family Fund announced plans to divest in March 2016, and the Rockefeller Foundation pledged to dump their fossil fuel holdings in December 2020.[39] [40] [41] With a $5 billion endowment, the Rockefeller Foundation was "the largest US foundation to embrace the rapidly growing divestment movement." CNN writer Matt Egan noted, "This divestment is especially symbolic because the Rockefeller Foundation was founded by oil money." In May 2021 Rockefeller descendants Rebecca Rockefeller Lambert and Peter Gill Case announced a ten-year funding initiative, the Equation Campaign, to fight new fossil fuel development.[42]

The archives

The Rockefeller family archives are held at the Rockefeller Archive Center in Pocantico Hills, North Tarrytown, New York.[43] At present, the archives of John D. Rockefeller Sr. William Rockefeller, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Abby Rockefeller Mauzé, John D. Rockefeller III, Blanchette Rockefeller, and Nelson Rockefeller are processed and open by appointment to readers in the Archive Center's reading room. Processed portions of the papers of Laurance Rockefeller are also open. In addition, the Archive Center has a microfilm copy of the Winthrop Rockefeller papers, the originals of which are held at the University of Arkansas, Little Rock. The papers of the family office, known as the Office of the Messrs. Rockefeller, are also open for research, although those portions that relate to living family members are closed.[44]

Members

Ancestors

Descendants of John Davison Rockefeller Sr.

The total number of blood relative descendants as of 2006 was about 150.

Descendants of William Avery Rockefeller Jr.

An article in The New York Times in 1937 stated that William Rockefeller had, at that time, 28 great-grandchildren.[57]

Spouses

Network

Associates

The following is a list of figures closely aligned with or subordinate to the Rockefeller family.

Businesses

The following is a list of companies in which the Rockefeller family have held a controlling or otherwise significant interest.

Charities, colleges, and nonprofit organizations

Buildings, estates and historic sites

See also

References

Other sources

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. World's largest private fortune - see Ron Chernow, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller Sr., London: Warner Books, 1998. (p.370)
  2. The Political Economy of Third World Intervention: Mines, Money, and U.S. Policy in the Congo Crisis, David N. Gibbs, University of Chicago Press 1991, page 113
  3. The Rockefeller inheritance, Alvin Moscow, Doubleday 1977, page 418
  4. Book: Chernow, Ron. Ron Chernow. Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller. New York. Vintage Books. 1998. 978-1-4000-7730-4. 7. [William Rockefeller Sr.] met his future wife, Eliza Davison, at her father's farmhouse.... A prudent, straitlaced Baptist of Scottish-Irish descent, deeply attached to his daughter, John Davison must have sensed the world of trouble that awaited Eliza.... registration.
  5. Ron Chernow, Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. (p. 3). 2007
  6. John Thomas Flynn, God's Gold: The Story of Rockefeller and His Times (p. 9). 1933
  7. Henry Oscar Rockefeller, Benjamin Franklin Rockefeller. The Transactions of the Rockefeller Family Association for 1905. Knickerbocker Press, 1915
  8. Chernow 1998, p. 52
  9. Web site: The 9 most amazing facts about John D. Rockefeller. Oil Patch Asia. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140102194304/http://oilpatchasia.com/2013/10/the-9-most-amazing-facts-about-john-d-rockefeller/. January 2, 2014.
  10. Book: Alsop, Stewart . Nixon & Rockefeller: A Double Portrait. 2016. 9781480446007. Open Road Media. Although the Nixon family was Quaker and the Rockefeller family Baptist.
  11. Book: Schmiesing, Kevin . Merchants and Ministers: A History of Businesspeople and Clergy in the United States. 2016. 9781498539258. 115. Lexington Books.
  12. Book: W. Williams, Peter. Religion, Art, and Money: Episcopalians and American Culture from the Civil War to the Great Depression. 2016. 9781469626987. 176. University of North Carolina Press. The names of fashionable families who were already Episcopalian, like the Morgans, or those, like the Fricks, who now became so, goes on interminably: Aldrich, Astor, Biddle, Booth, Brown, Du Pont, Firestone, Ford, Gardner, Mellon, Morgan, Procter, the Vanderbilt, Whitney. Episcopalians branches of the Baptist Rockefellers and Jewish Guggenheims even appeared on these family trees..
  13. Web site: Rockefeller Archive Center "Family, JDR" . Rockarch.org . February 19, 2013.
  14. Women in the family with no control over the family fortune—see Bernice Kert, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller: The Woman in the Family. New York: Random House, 1993. (p.100)
  15. Managing the family wealth, 1992 New York Times article Rockefeller Family Tries to Keep A Vast Fortune From Dissipating (see External Links). (Note: The names and nature of these departments may have changed since 1992.)
  16. The Edifice Complex: The Architecture of Power, By Deyan Sudjic, Penguin, April 7, 2011, page 245–255
  17. Web site: Rockefeller Archive Center "Family, OMR" . Rockarch.org . February 19, 2013.
  18. Web site: John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the Van Tassel Apartments, Rockefeller Archive Newsletter, Fall 1997 . February 19, 2013.
  19. The Morningside Heights housing project - see David Rockefeller, Memoirs, New York: Random House, 2002. (pp.385-87).
  20. Web site: UChicago.edu, "News, Nobel" . News.uchicago.edu . February 19, 2013.
  21. Funded colleges and Ivy League universities - see Robert Shaplen, Toward the Well-Being of Mankind: Fifty Years of the Rockefeller Foundation, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1964. (passim)
  22. Book: Google Books: Rockefeller and the Internationalization of Mathematics . April 1, 2003 . February 19, 2013. 9783764364687 . Siegmund-Schultze . Reinhard . Springer .
  23. Book: Amazon Books: Forest Hill . 0738540943. Gregor. Sharon. 2006. Arcadia .
  24. News: Gray. Christopher. May 22, 1994. Streetscapes/The Rockefeller City House; Pied-a-Terre Off Fifth for a Parsimonious Billionaire. The New York Times. May 25, 2021. 0362-4331.
  25. News: September 26, 1901. New Home for John D. Rockefeller Jr.. 16. The New York Times. May 24, 2021.
  26. Web site: Check Out The Rockefeller Mansion in Rock Creek Park. Elliot Carter. Architect of the Capital.org. October 16, 2016.
  27. News: David Rockefeller Sr., steward of family fortune and Chase Manhattan Bank, dies at 101. Smith. Timothy R.. The Washington Post. November 6, 2017. en-US.
  28. Family unity maintained over the decades - see John Ensor Harr and Peter J. Johnson, The Rockefeller Century: Three Generations of America's Greatest Family, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1988. (pp.370-71, passim); David's unifying influence - see Memoirs (pp.346-7)
  29. http://www.carnegie.org/sub/awardees/rockefellers.html Carnegie.Org "Rockefellers"
  30. Greatest benefactor of medicine in history - see Ron Chernow, Titan: op.cit. (p.570)
  31. Web site: Rockefeller Archive Center "JDR Jr" . Rockarch.org . February 19, 2013.
  32. https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/21/nyregion/21mbrfs-MANHATTANARO_BRF.html?ex=1165813200&en=2e5c9cb9be90141d&ei=5070 New York Times, November 21, 2006
  33. Web site: Museum Honors All Rockefellers and Gifts. Barbara Gamarekian. March 15, 1991. The New York Times.
  34. News: Rockefellers and Design. Jene Stonesifer. The Washington Post. March 14, 1991.
  35. http://cuinfo.cornell.edu/Campus/Infobase/Infobase.php?kindex=626 Cornell.Edu "Infobase"
  36. Restorations and constructions in France, Egypt, Greece and Jerusalem - see Memoirs, (pp.44-48).
  37. News: They Saved Land Like Rockefellers. The New York Times. November 15, 2005. March 23, 2008 . Anthony . Depalma.
  38. News: Rockefeller descendants speak out against company to which they owe their prosperity. February 7, 2018. CBS News. December 2, 2016.
  39. News: Rockefellers, Heirs to an Oil Fortune, Will Divest Charity of Fossil Fuels . The New York Times . September 21, 2014 . John . Schwartz . September 23, 2014 .
  40. News: Wade. Terry. Driver. Anna. Rockefeller Family Fund hits Exxon, divests from fossil fuels. Reuters. March 18, 2018. March 24, 2016.
  41. News: Egan . Matt . Exclusive: A $5 billion foundation literally founded on oil money is saying goodbye to fossil fuels . December 20, 2020 . CNN.com . December 18, 2020.
  42. Web site: Heirs to Rockefeller fortune launch effort to slow oil and gas growthg. The Hill. May 6, 2021. May 6, 2021.
  43. Haskell . Mary B. . Winter 1996 . Brother, Can You Share a Dime?: The Rockefeller Family and Libraries . Libraries & Culture . 31 . 1 . 130–143 . 25548427.
  44. Web site: DIMES: Online Collections and Catalog of Rockefeller Archive Center. dimes.rockarch.org. 2019-01-04.
  45. Chernow, R. (1998). Titan: The life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr.
  46. News: December 20, 1987 . Allison H. Whipple, Broker, Marries Peter C. Rockefeller . The New York Times . June 2, 2022 . 0362-4331.
  47. News: Deutsch. Claudia H.. January 15, 2006. AT LUNCH WITH: WENDY GORDON; Living Green, but Allowing for Shades of Gray. The New York Times.
  48. News: Ariana Rockefeller and Matthew Bucklin. The New York Times . September 18, 2010 . en. 2020-07-22 . Sipher . Devan .
  49. Web site: World's Richest Heirs Mom.com. 2020-07-22. mom.com.
  50. Web site: Conley. Kevin. 2016-05-11. How the Name Rockefeller Came to Mean More Than Just Wealth. 2020-07-22. Town & Country. en-US.
  51. News: October 18, 1966. Neva Rockefeller Engaged to Wed Walter J. Kaiser; Niece of Governor Will Be Bride of Professor at Harvard, Author. The New York Times. July 22, 2020. 0362-4331.
  52. News: Vitello. Paul. November 29, 2016. Bruce Mazlish, Who Fused Psychoanalysis and History in His Books, Dies at 93. The New York Times. 2020-07-22. 0362-4331.
  53. News: Schwartz. John. July 16, 2020. David Kaiser, Rockefeller Heir Who Fought Exxon Mobil, Dies at 50. The New York Times. July 22, 2020. 0362-4331.
  54. Santora, Marc, "Richard Rockefeller Killed in New York Plane Crash", New York Times, June 13, 2014. Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  55. [James Fallows|Fallows, James]
  56. Berger, Joseph, "A Rockefeller Known Not for Wealth but for His Efforts to Help", New York Times, June 23, 2014. Retrieved June 24, 2014.
  57. Web site: Rockefeller Archive Center "Family, JDR" . Rockarch.org . February 19, 2013.
  58. Association with David Rockefeller – see his Memoirs, New York: Random House, 2002 (pp. 208, 479, 481)
  59. Book: Collier . Peter . Horowitz . David . 1976 . The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty . New York City, NY . Holt, Rinehart and Winston . 11–12 . 0-03-008371-0 . "[John D. Rockefeller] had few friends in Cleveland's Central High School...although he did form a lasting bond with classmate Mark Hanna, later to be a U.S. senator, presidential kingmaker, and political fixer for the Standard Oil trust.".
  60. Book: Josephson . Matthew . 2015-10-27 . 1934 . The Robber Barons: The Classic Account of the Influential Capitalists Who Transformed America's Future . Houghton Mifflin Harcourt . 432–433 . 978-0-15-676790-3 . ...[T]he various invasions of Harriman would have been impossible without tremendous draughts upon the reservoir of money at 26 Broadway. Else he could not have seized and rebuilt so quickly the Union Pacific; nor added to this Colis Huntington's huge Southern Pacific…To carry these enterprises, Harriman’s biographer tells us, the men of the Standard Oil family ' gave Harriman financial support when he needed tens of millions of dollars, in credit or cash'..
  61. Daly Bednarek, Janet Rose; Launius, Roger D. (2003). Reconsidering a Century of Flight. UNC Press Books. p. 120. . Retrieved August 1, 2014.
  62. Book: Domhoff, G.William . 1996 . State Autonomy or Class Dominance?: Case Studies on Policy Making In America . Hawthorne, NY . Aldine de Gruyter . 60–61 . 0-202-30512-0.
  63. Book: Bryant Jr. . Keith L. . Frailey . Fred W. . 2020 . History of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway . University of Nebraska Press . 185 . 9781496214102.
  64. Book: White, Leslie A. . 2016 . Modern Capitalist Culture . New York City, NY . Routledge . 379 . 978-1-59874-157-5.
  65. Book: Caro, Robert . 1975 . 1974 . The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York . Random House, Inc. . 1067 . 0-394-72024-5 . "There is scarcely a bank in New York State with which the Rockefellers do not have some link, direct or hidden. As for the state's largest bank, the Chase Manhattan Bank that is probably the most powerful financial institution anywhere on earth, Chase is, as [Theodore H.] White notes, 'the last great bank controlled by an individual family—the Rockefellers.".
  66. . Who Built the Roads? A Modern Parable . The Railroad Telegrapher: Volume 39, Part 2 . Order of Railroad Telegraphers . 1922 . 937–938 . 2023-03-04 . William Rockefeller, brother of John D., died a few weeks ago in his palatial home on the Hudson. .
  67. Nomination of Nelson A. Rockefeller to be Vice President of the United StatesHearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-Third Congress, Second Session, November 21, 1974, (Serial No. 45), p.1069. "As for the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, in 1972 more than half of the 15 persons listed as trustees were members of the [Rockefeller] Family's investment counselors...[T]he Fund portfolio's largest holdings are in Exxon, Standard Oil of California, Chase Manhattan Bank, and Rockefeller Center, all considered controlled by, or heavily influenced by, the Rockefeller Family. The next largest holding is in the Chrysler Corporation where in the period 1966-1970, they held 80,000 shares of Chrysler common stock plus $1.6 million in notes of the Chrysler Financial and Realty Corporation. Remember that J.Richardson Dilworth has been a director of Chrysler since 1962, when the Rockefellers bought a major stock position in that company."
  68. News: McCandlish . Laura . Indoor composting toilets waste not, want not . 29 September 2021 . Chicago Tribune . 22 May 2005.
  69. News: 2 February 1917 . Rockefellers in the Consolidation Coal Co. . The Big Sandy News . Louisa, KY . 2021-05-26.
  70. Book: Groner, Alex . 1972 . The American Heritage History of American Business & Industry . American Heritage Publishing Company . 213 . 0070011567.
  71. U.S. Congress House Committee on the Judiciary . 1974 . Nomination of Nelson A. Rockefeller to be Vice President of the United States: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary . U.S. Government Printing Office . 665 . 2024-03-03 . "Consolidated Edison—[Nelson] Rockefeller's conflict of interest statement on file with the N.Y. Secretary of State, shows the [Rockefeller] family ownership of this big utility. With ownership goes control, of course.".
  72. Book: Collier . Peter . Horowitz . David . 1976 . The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty . Holt, Rinehart and Winston . 389 . "Nelson [Rockefeller] and Laurance's Great-Uncle William Rockefeller had been, in fact, one of the original owners of Con Ed, and based on figures Junior had given TNEC investigators in 1937, the [Rockefeller] family's current holdings would amount to better than $10 million.". 0-03-008371-0.
  73. News: Godfrey S. Rockefeller, Dies; Executive in Textiles Was 83. 30 November 2016. The New York Times. 25 February 1983.
  74. News: Kaufman . Michael T. . 11 July 2004. Laurance Rockefeller, Venture Capitalist and Philanthropist, Dies at 94 . . New York City . 2021-05-26 . "In the late 1930's, [Laurance Rockefeller] provided much of the capital to help Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, the World War I fighter pilot, start Eastern Airlines and was for many years the airline's largest stockholder.".
  75. Hart, John Mason. Empire and Revolution: The Americans in Mexico since the Civil War. Berkeley: University of California Press 2002, pp. 183–84.
  76. Web site: Schroy . John Oswin . The International Basic Economy Corporation, IBEC, CRESCINCO, Nelson Rockefeller, and the Brazilian Capital Market . www.capital-flow-analysis.com.
  77. Book: Auzanneau, Matthieu . 2018 . 2015. Oil, Power and War: A Dark History . Chelsea Green Publishing . 80 . 978-1-60358-743-3 . "The dismantling of Standard Oil appears to have been only a formality. The subsidiaries sold their products under the same brand and divided the sales territories; during the next two or three decades, there was virtually no perceptible competition between them...¶Above all, the main shareholders remained the same as before, beginning with John D. Rockefeller, who retained about one-quarter of the shares of each of the thirty-three companies created after the Supreme Court ruling.".
  78. News: Kaufman . Michael T. . July 11, 2004 . Laurance Rockefeller, Venture Capitalist and Philanthropist, Dies at 94 . The New York Times. March 3, 2023.
  79. Book: Shannon, David A. . 1977 . Twentieth Century America, Volume I: The Progressive Era . Chicago, IL . Rand McNally College Publishing Company . 73–74 .
  80. Book: Lasky, Betty . 1984 . RKO, The Biggest Little Major of Them All . Prentice Hall, Inc. . 55 . 0-13-781451-8.
  81. Web site: Wrestling toward the Truth . 2022-12-22 . Santa Fe Reporter . June 25, 2014 . en.
  82. News: ROCKEFELLER KIN IN BANKING FIELD; Avery, Grandson of William Rockefeller, a Founder of New Investment Concern. A PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDER Schroder, Rockefeller & Co., Inc., Will Do Underwriting and Securities Business. . February 16, 2023 . The New York Times . July 9, 1936.
  83. Book: White, Leslie A. . 2016 . Modern Capitalist Culture . New York City, NY . Routledge . 379 . 978-1-59874-157-5 . "The Rockefeller family owned enough stock in five of the 200 largest non-financial corporations to insure virtual control over them. They were: (1) Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) of whose stock 13.5 percent was owned by members of the Rockefeller family and by family foundations; this was by far the largest block of stock extant. (2) Socony Vacuum Oil Company, Inc, 16.3 percent of whose common stock was owned by members of the Rockefeller family; (3) Standard Oil (Indiana), 11.4 percent of common stock owned by family and foundations; (4) Standard Oil Company of California, 11.9 percent of common stock held by family, 0.5 percent by foundations; (5) Ohio Oil Company, family held 9.5 percent, foundations held 9.1 percent of common stock; family and foundations each owned about 10 percent of the preferred stock".
  84. Book: Collier . Peter . Horowitz . David . 1976 . The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty . Holt, Rinehart and Winston . 389 . "The [Standard Oil] trust was dead, but Rockefeller continued to hold controlling interest[s] in the constituent companies. As late as 1931, he had some 23 percent of Standard Oil of New Jersey, 18 percent of Standard of Ohio, 15 percent of Standard Oil of California, and 10 percent Standard of Indiana". 0-03-008371-0.
  85. Book: Collier . Peter . Horowitz . David . 1976 . The Rockefellers: An American Dynasty . Holt, Rinehart and Winston . 389 . "[Rockefeller's] agreement with Morgan on the Mesabi property had made him the largest stockholder in U.S. Steel and given him a seat on the board of directors.". 0-03-008371-0.
  86. United States Congress Joint Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce . 1918 . Interstate and Foreign Transportation: Hearings Before the Joint Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, Congress of the United States, Pursuant to Public J. Res. 25, a Joint Resolution Creating a Joint Subcommittee from the Membership of the Senate Committee on Interstate Commerce and the House Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce to Investigate the Conditions Relating to Interstate and Foreign Commerce, and the Necessity of Further Legislation Relating Thereto, and Defing the Powers and Duties of Such Subcommittee, Volume 4, Parts 13-14 . U.S. Government Printing Office . 2109 . 2024-02-28 .
  87. Book: Flynn, John T. . 1932 . God's Gold: The Story of Rockefeller and His Times . Quinn & Boden Company . 347 . 978-1-61016-411-5.
  88. Book: Grant, H. Roger . 2019 . 2004 . "Follow the Flag": A History of the Wabash Railroad Company . Northern Illinois University Press . 265 . 978-1-5017-4777-9.
  89. Web site: Gold Medal Honorees.
  90. News: Mrs. E. Parmalee Prentice Dies; Daughter of J.D. Rockefeller Sr. . 3 May 2019 . . 22 June 1962.
  91. News: J. R. Prentice Dies; Cattle Breeder, 69 . 3 May 2019 . . 16 June 1972.
  92. Book: Irwin . Jeffrey D. . O'Shea . Kaitlin . 2008 . Overhills . Arcadia Publishing . 8–9 . 978-0-7385-5433-4.