John D. Rockefeller

John D. Rockefeller is an example of someone who started out to be very poor, but was worth millions of dollars by the end of his life. He was born on July 8, 1839 in Richford, New York, but spent part of his early life in Cleveland, Ohio. His father, William Avery Rockefeller, has been characterized as a con man or peddler. He would pretend to be someone he wasn’t and then charge people for giving …

…used cruel tactics in running his business, and had no problem firing people from their jobs. He didn’t care about people as much as he cared about making money in any way that he could. He was very successful and very charitable with his money, but the way he got to the top was ruthless. That’s why I would consider him to be more of a robber baron than a captain of industry.