David Rockefeller was an American banker and a philanthropist who passed away on March 20, 2017, at the age of 101. He was the last living grandchild of John D. Rockefeller, founder of Standard Oil and the world’s oldest billionaire alive.
David was known for his extensive political connections with foreign leaders and wide-range of foreign travel. Now let’s have a close look on David Rockefeller’s net worth in 2019.
Early Life
David Rockefeller was born on June 12, 1915, in the New York City. His father, John Davison Rockefeller Jr. was the only son of John Davison Rockefeller- the wealthiest American of all time. David’s mother, Abby Greene Aldrich was Senator Nelson Wilmarth Aldrich’s daughter. David was the youngest of six children.
He went t Lincoln School in Harlem and graduated from Harvard University in 1936. He then studied Economics at Harvard and London School of Economics. While he was at the London School of Economics, he met John F. Kennedy and dated his sister Kathleen. In 1940 he returned to the U.S. and did his PhD. from the University of Chicago.
In 1940, he married Margaret McGrath a.k.a Peggy, and had two sons and four daughters. She passed away in 1996.
His legacy is now handled by his children, one of whom died three years before David’s demise.
Career
After David’s Ph.D. he worked as secretary to the New York Mayor for 18 months. He then got associated with the United States Office of Defence, Health and Welfare Services as an Assistant Regional Director.
In 1943 he entered the U.S. Army’s Officer Candidate School and got promoted to Captain. While World War II, he operated in North Africa and France. Due to his fluent French, he also served at the American Embassy in Paris.
In 1946, Rockefeller joined the family associated Chase National Bank, headed by his uncle. He became the bank president in 1960 and chaired till 1981.The bank shifted into consumer banking later and is combined with other banks to form what today is known as JPMorgan Chase.
He has met several world leaders and met with U.S. presidents. He was offered the position of United States Secretary of the Treasury by the President Jimmy Carter but he turned it down. His brother Nelson Rockefeller was the governor of New York in 1968 who offered him Robert F. Kennedy’s Senate position that was again declined by him.
Rockefeller liquidated some of his assets and donated nearly $700 million to the Rockefeller University, numerous non-profits, Museum of Modern Art and to the Harvard University.
Awards & Achievements
The list of awards that Rockefeller received is enormously long and distributed across his niches of work. To name a few, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1998, French Legion of Honor and U.S. Legion of Honor in 1945, George C. Marshall Foundation Award in 1999, and Business International Leadership Award in 1983 by the United States Council for International (USCIB).
Net Worth of David Rockefeller
As stated by Forbes, Rockefeller’s net worth at the time of his death was $3.3 billion. He had mostly inherited his wealth from his family trusts set up by his father. Additionally, he had been in partnership with various properties. Apart from these, he owned a good range of art collection which he developed through time.
Rockefeller was greatly known (just for what the Rockefeller family is known for) had a deep political and banking history. He is the first from the family to have written an autobiography; Memoirs in 2002. A noted internationalist died at the age of 101 as a result of congestive heart failure while sleeping at his home.