The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Billionaire philanthropist David Rockefeller, 101
US billionaire David Rockefeller, who was the last of his generation in the famously philanthropic family, has died aged 101.
He died peacefully in his sleep yesterday morning at his home in Pocantico Hills, New York.
Mr Rockefeller was the sixth child of John D Rockefeller Jr and the grandson of Standard Oil co-founder John D Rockefeller.
With the passing of his elder siblings, Mr Rockefeller was at the head of a sprawling network of family interests, both business and philanthropic, which range from environmental conservation to the arts. He also headed what is now JP Morgan Chase bank.
To mark his 100th birthday in 2015, he gave 1,000 acres of land next to a national park to the state of Maine.
Aspects of the Rockefeller brothers’ upbringing became famous, including a 25-cent allowance, portions of which had to be set aside for charity and savings, and the inculcation that wealth brings great responsibility.
David Rockefeller never sought public office. Unlike his other brothers, John D III and Laurance, who shied from the spotlight, he spoke widely as a champion of enlightened capitalism.
“American capitalism has brought more benefits to more people than any other system in any part of the world at any time in history,” he said. “The problem is to see that the system is run as efficiently and as honestly as it can be.”
Rockefeller graduated from Harvard in 1936 and received a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago in 1940. He served in the army during the Second World War, then began climbing the ranks at Chase Bank, which merged with the Manhattan Company in 1955. He was named Chase Manhattan’s president in 1961 and chairman and chief executive officer eight years later. He retired in 1981 at 65.
Rockefeller gave away money for no return. He parted company with some of his fellow capitalists on income tax, calling it unseemly to earn $1m and then find ways to avoid paying taxes on it. He did not say how much he paid in taxes and never spoke publicly about his personal worth. In 2015, Forbes magazine estimated his fortune at $3bn.
Rockefeller and his wife, the former Margaret McGrath, married in 1940 and had six children: David Jr, Richard, Abby, Neva, Margaret and Eileen. His wife, a conservationist, died in 1996.