Rockefeller Passes

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 108, 24 May 1937, Page 7

Rockefeller Passes

—Press AsSn.— Copyright.'

RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD Peaceful Death After Heart Attacks A PUBLIC BENEFACTGR

( By Telegraph-

(Beceived 24, 10.30 a.m.) NEW YOBIC, May 23. The death has occurred of John Davidson Rockefeller, senr., aged 97, at Daytona Beach, Florida, after a series of heart attacks. His physician attributed death to hardening of the heart muscles and stated: "Mr Rockefeller gave no final message and apparently did not realise that he was dying. Several servants, long in Mr Eockefeller's employ, stood at the bedside, weeping. The news spread late in the morning throughout tlie city and throngs of men and women gathered at the gates of the estate. Mr Rockefeller had been more active recently than for many years. He

motored daily to an inlet twelve miles distant where he watched tlie flshermen and tbe passage of ■ shrimping boats. Otherwise his eontact with the outside world was felight and he remained in has closely-guarded estate. Indications are that death came early in the morning, when Mr Rockefeller fell into a coma from which he failed to rally. The family physician, Dr H. L. Merryday, said that the flrst heart attack occurred on Frdday. His condition . was very much improved on Saturday and he was in excellent spirits and talked to the servants. For this reason, Mr Roekefeller, jum., was not called to the home. A change came at midnight on Saturday, while Mr Rockefeller was talking in good spirits to. his valet and the night nurse. The valet said that the death could not have been more peaceful or more beautiful. "He passed away as if asleep, so quiet. One could not ask for a more beautiful deatb," he said. The body will be taken to Tarrytown, New York, and from there it is expected that it will be removed to his Gleveland home. The late Mr John Davison Roeke- 1 feller is reputed to be the wealtliiest man in the world. He was born on , July 8, 1839, and began business as a clerk in a forwarding and commission house and at the age ?£ 19 was a partner in the flrm of Clark and Rockefeller, commission. merehants. This flrm later became Andrews, Clark and Co., and engaged in the oil busin^s. In 1867 the firm, then Roekefellor, Andrews and Flagler, built the Stan? dard Oil Refinery at Cleveland, Obio. Brsnches were opened, and five years later a sombination of flrms was foTmed as the Standard Oil Co. with a capi» tal of £200,000, Mr Roekefeller being president. In 1882 the combine had absorbed or oubivalled nearly all similar concerna in the United States of America, and Mr Rockefeller had become the wealthiest man in the world. He Tetired from business in 1911, his son, Mr John D. Rockefelle, junr., who was born in 1874, carrying pn his father's activi. tie>3. The late Mr Roekefeller gave a great deal of his fortixne for charitable and educational purposes. Up to 1922 he had given more than 500,000,000 dollars for such purposes, of which nearly Four-fifths had gone to the great charitable corporations which he had created, the Rockefeller Foundation, General Education Board,- the Laura Spelnian Rockefeller Memorial and the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Re•scareh. The last mentxoned is perhaps the most well known. The donor in 1901 erected and endowed the neces.sary buildings in New York at a cost of £800,000. The institute includes wellequipped laboratories and a large hospital. Ia 1907 a farm in New Jersey Was added for breeding animals for experimental purposes, and a further bioJogical laboratory was opened in Massuchusetts in 191 J. A notable rule of the institute is that all discoveries and inventions m^de by salat'ied membeM of the staif must' be oftered for public beneflt. The late Mr Rockefeller was marx'ied in 1864 to Laura C. Spelinan, who died in 1915. In addition to his son, there are two daughters.