| (1839
- 1937) |
| Inducted: |
1975 |
| Region: |
Northeast |
| Industry: |
Manufacturing
|
|
John D. Rockefeller, Sr. was history’s first billionaire. At age 23, he went into business with Samuel Andrews, the inventor of an inexpensive process for refining crude petroleum. The business became the Standard Oil Company. Under Rockefeller’s tight control, Standard came to dominate the oil industry. Still, consumers paid less for their lamp oil than they would have if the industry had remained in fragments. Rockefeller offered his tremendous organizational skills to many projects including the Rockefeller Foundation and the University of Chicago. |
