John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937), founder of the Standard Oil Company, became one of the world’s wealthiest men and a major philanthropist. Born into modest family in upstate New York, he entered the oil business in 1863 by investing in a Cleveland, Ohio, refinery.
In 1870, he
established Standard Oil, many accused Rockefeller of engaging in unethical
practices, such as predatory pricing and colluding with railroads to eliminate
his competitors, in order to gain a monopoly in the industry. In 1870, he established Standard Oil, but many accused Rockefeller of engaging in unethical practices, such as predatory pricing and colluding with railroads to eliminate his competitors, in order to gain a monopoly in the industry.
In 1882, these various companies were combined into the Standard Oil Trust, which would control some 90 percent of the nation’s refineries and pipelines. In order to exploit economies of scale, Standard Oil did everything from build its own oil barrels to employ scientists to figure out new uses for petroleum by-products.
In 1890, the U.S. Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act, the first
federal legislation prohibiting trusts and combinations that restrained
trade. Two years later, the Ohio Supreme Court dissolved the Standard
Oil Trust.
In 1911, after years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled
that Standard Oil of New Jersey was in violation of anti-trust laws and
forced it to dismantle, it was broken up into more than 30 individual
companies.
Rockefeller over his lifetime donated more than half a billion dollars to various educational, religious and scientific causes. Among his activities, he funded the establishment of the University of Chicago and the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (now Rockefeller University).