John D. Rockefeller III | |
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| Born | John Davison Rockefeller III (1906-03-21)March 21, 1906 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | July 10, 1978(1978-07-10) (aged 72) Mount Pleasant, New York, U.S. |
| Burial place | Rockefeller Family Cemetery Sleepy Hollow, New York, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Princeton University(B.S.) |
| Spouse | |
| Children | |
| Parent(s) | John Davison Rockefeller Jr. Abigail Greene Aldrich |
| Relatives | SeeRockefeller family |
John Davison Rockefeller III (March 21, 1906 – July 10, 1978) was an American philanthropist. Rockefeller was the eldest son and second child ofJohn D. Rockefeller Jr. andAbby Aldrich Rockefeller as well as a grandson ofStandard Oil co-founderJohn D. Rockefeller. He was engaged in a wide range of philanthropic projects, many of which his family had launched, as well as supporting organizations related to East Asian affairs. Rockefeller was also a major supporter of thePopulation Council, and the committee that created theLincoln Center in Manhattan.
On March 21, 1906, John Davison Rockefeller III was born in New York City, New York. His parents wereJohn Davison Rockefeller Jr. (1874–1960) andAbigail Greene "Abby" Aldrich (1874–1948), philanthropists. He had four younger brothers,Nelson,Winthrop,Laurance andDavid, and an elder sister,Abby. Through his father, he was a grandson ofStandard Oil co-founderJohn Davison Rockefeller Sr. and schoolteacherLaura Celestia "Cettie" Spelman. Through his mother, he was a grandson of SenatorNelson Wilmarth Aldrich and Abigail Pearce Truman "Abby" Chapman. He received his preparatory education at theBrowning School in New York City and theLoomis Chaffee School, Windsor, Connecticut, in 1925. He went toPrinceton University where he received high honors in economics and graduated in 1929 with the degree of Bachelor of Science, choosing industrial relations as the subject of his senior thesis. His interest in industrial relations stemmed from the family's role in theLudlow Massacre, in which strikebreakers and security guards killed women and children of miners striking against the Rockefeller-controlled Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. Rockefeller's father worked to restore the family's public reputation by championing industrial relations and the work ofWilliam Lyon Mackenzie King, a pioneer in the field.
Commencing a lifelong commitment to international relations, he undertook a world tour after graduating from college, which concluded with assignments for theInstitute of Pacific Relations conference in Japan.[1]
John III was the next Rockefeller manager for all family undertakings of social relevance. Since 1929, in total he sat on twenty boards of various institutions, most of which were family-related. The more notable of these were:
John III was at one time a member of theCouncil on Foreign Relations, theForeign Policy Association and theInstitute of Pacific Relations, as well as being on the board of directors ofPrinceton University. In late 1950, he accompaniedsecretary of stateJohn Foster Dulles andDouglas MacArthur on a trip to Japan to conclude a peace treaty, during which time he consulted with many Japanese leaders in practically every important sphere of that country's life.[2]
He was a prominent third-generation family philanthropist in his own right and founder of theAsia Society, the major institution he established in 1956 to foster greater cooperation between Asia and the United States. He also founded thePopulation Council in 1952, and a reconstitutedJapan Society. In addition, he set up the United Negro College Fund for the ongoing education of African Americans, carrying on the family tradition in this area with his grandfather's funding of the education of black women atSpelman College in Atlanta.
He was on his father's Advisory Committee in thefamily office, Room 5600. He was also president of the family's principal philanthropy run by family members, theRockefeller Brothers Fund, from its inception in 1940 to 1956. In 1929, he joined the family's renownedRockefeller Foundation; elected to the board in 1931 he subsequently became chairman of this major philanthropic organization for twenty years and was responsible for changing the focus of the institution.
The principal philanthropic institution he created was the JDR III Fund in 1963, its major program being the Asian Cultural Program, created in 1967 to encourage East-West cultural exchange. The Fund was wound-up upon his death in 1979, but the Cultural Program continued as the Asian Cultural Council, which has provided grant assistance to more than 4,000 Asians and Americans in the area of the arts. Funding for its programs is derived from a combination of endowment income and contributions from individuals, foundations and corporations in the United States and Asia.
In the mid-1950s, John III assumed the leadership of the Exploratory Committee for a Musical Arts Center, a committee of civic leaders who were working to create what would becomeLincoln Center. He was the key figure in the fund-raising efforts and in forging a consensus among the civic leaders and others who were essential to its success. The Center itself was built over a period from 1959 to 1969. He was its second president, commencing in 1956, and he became its chairman in 1961. He was chairman until 1970 when he was duly elected honorary chairman.[3]
In the late 1960s, Rockefeller III was responsible for the creation of the Commission on Foundations and Private Philanthropy (usually known as the Peterson Commission, headed byPeter G. Peterson) and the Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs (usually known as the Filer Commission). He established the Rockefeller Public Service Awards in 1958. In 1959, he receivedThe Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York". In 1976, he received the S. Roger Horchow Award for Greatest Public Service by a Private Citizen, an award given out annually byJefferson Awards.[4]
Rockefeller III was chairman of the Commission on Population Growth and the American Future, which was created to provide recommendations to the United States government regarding population growth and its social consequences. The Commission was established by Congress in 1970 and submitted its final recommendations in 1972.[5]
Rockefeller College at Princeton University was named in his honor in 1982.
The John D. Rockefeller III National Tournament of Elementary School State Champions, an annual national-championship chess tournament run byUS Chess, was named in his honor in 2020.
On November 11, 1932, he married the socially connectedBlanchette Ferry Hooker (1909–1992), who was to serve as chairman of theAsian Cultural Council from 1980 to 1990, and who established the Blanchette H. Rockefeller Fellowship Fund, in Japan. They had one son and three daughters:
Rockefeller was killed in an automobile accident inMount Pleasant, New York (near theRockefeller family estate inPocantico), on July 10, 1978, at the age of 72.[6] He is buried at the Rockefeller Family Cemetery inSleepy Hollow, New York.
| Non-profit organization positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| New title | President of the Population Council 1952–1956 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Rockefeller Foundation 1952–1971 | Succeeded by |
| New title | President of the Asia Society 1956–1964 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Asia Society 1964–1974 | Succeeded by |
