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The Philanthropy 50: Americans Who Gave the Most in 2008
David Rockefeller
Rank: 15
Total amount committed in 2008: $137.8-million
Location: New York, New York
Source of wealth: Family wealth, Finance
Other key beneficiaries: Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, American Museum of Natural History Southwest Research Station, New York Botanical Garden, Museum for African Art
Donor's background: Mr. Rockefeller retired as chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank, in New York; his inheritance is from the Standard Oil Company, which his grandfather founded.
Mr. Rockefeller, 93, pledged $100-million to Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass., under the condition that the university will receive the gift upon his death, and an additional $2.5-million, of which nearly $1.3-million has been paid.
Of the total pledged, $70-million will support study-abroad programs for undergraduates, plus internships, service, and research programs in foreign countries, and annual stipends for undergraduates studying abroad who otherwise could not afford to do so. Mr. Rockefeller has directed the remaining $30-million to three new centers where undergraduates can study original artworks from Harvard's holdings.
The study-abroad portion of the pledge is of special significance to Mr. Rockefeller, who spent the summer of 1933 in Germany and witnessed the rise of fascism in that country.
"Increasingly it's important for students to spend a significant amount of time abroad, and I just think that it isn't enough to know just about this country," he said. "The best way, from my own experience of learning about other parts of the world, is to go there and meet the people and live with them."
The art component of the pledge is also close to Mr. Rockefeller's heart. His mother, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, was a co-founder of the Museum of Modern Art, in New York. He took several art-history classes at Harvard, but, he said, it wasn't until he visited about 30 museums during a trip through Europe that he realized that seeing original artworks up close provided a deeper understanding of those he had studied in class.
A 1936 graduate of Harvard, Mr. Rockefeller served on Harvard College's Board of Overseers from 1954 to 1968.
In addition to the Harvard pledges, Mr. Rockefeller pledged $25-million to the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, in Pocantico Hills, N.Y., for its endowment. He and a daughter, Peggy Dulany, established the 80-acre farm and agricultural-education center in 2004, in memory of Margaret (Peggy) Rockefeller, his wife and her mother, who died in 1996 and was a lifelong advocate of farmland protection and local food production.
Mr. Rockefeller made three other pledges: $5-million, of which $2.5-million has been paid, to the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City, for the organization's MillionTreesNYC Project; $2-million, of which $1-million has been paid, to the American Museum of Natural History's Southwest Research Station, in Portal, Ariz.; and $1-million, of which $500,000 has been paid, to the Museum for African Art, in Long Island City, N.Y.
Mr. Rockefeller also gave $1.5-million to the New York Botanical Garden, in the Bronx; $500,000 to the Nelson Mandela Foundation, in Houghton, South Africa; and $300,000 to American Farmland Trust, in Washington.
About These Data
The giving figures listed for each individual are based on donations announced to date by the donors or their beneficiaries. In cases of bequests, most of the figures are estimates because the wills have not been settled. For news of gift announcements in 2009, visit the America's Top Donors database.
If you know about a recent gift of $1-million or more that should be added to this directory, please send a message to gifts@philanthropy.com.