At a glance
- Age
- 97
- Born
- July 8, 1839
- From
- Richford
- Lives in
- Cleveland
- Nationality
- United States
Biography
The name tends to arrive attached to a number — one of the wealthiest Americans who ever lived, and by most reckonings one of the richest people in history. That is why the quotes circulate. But the part worth knowing is where the money started: a teenager keeping books.
He was born in Richford, in Upstate New York, in July 1839, into a large family that moved several times before settling in Cleveland, Ohio. At sixteen he took work as an assistant bookkeeper. At twenty he began entering business partnerships, and he narrowed his attention to one thing — oil refining. In 1870 he founded the Standard Oil Company. He ran it until 1897 and stayed its largest shareholder afterwards.
The second half of his life went to giving the money away. In retirement he directed his wealth toward education, medicine, higher education, and the modernisation of the Southern United States. He died in May 1937.
For readers who come across him through a clip or a line of advice, the appeal is usually the arc: bookkeeper's ledger at sixteen, a single industry chosen and pursued, and then decades spent redirecting the result.
He was born in Richford, in Upstate New York, in July 1839, into a large family that moved several times before settling in Cleveland, Ohio. At sixteen he took work as an assistant bookkeeper. At twenty he began entering business partnerships, and he narrowed his attention to one thing — oil refining. In 1870 he founded the Standard Oil Company. He ran it until 1897 and stayed its largest shareholder afterwards.
The second half of his life went to giving the money away. In retirement he directed his wealth toward education, medicine, higher education, and the modernisation of the Southern United States. He died in May 1937.
For readers who come across him through a clip or a line of advice, the appeal is usually the arc: bookkeeper's ledger at sixteen, a single industry chosen and pursued, and then decades spent redirecting the result.
