The Rockefeller Clan: A Public Family
The nation's first billionaire believed that the power to make money was"a gift from God to be developed and used to the best of our abilityfor the good of mankind." Along with the bulk of his fortune, John D.Rockefeller passed that belief on to his only son, John D. Jr., whotransmitted it to his own six children. After John D. Jr.'s death in1960 at the age of 86, Lyndon Johnson said of him: "That old man up inheaven—or wherever he may be—must be awfully proud of all his boys.Every one of them's been a public servant."
The Brothers, as John D. Jr.'s boys are called, have earned L.B.J.'saccolade. From the family headquarters on the 56th floor of 30Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, they have reached out across the globeto give not only their money but also their time to a wide variety ofpublic causes. "The word is stewardship" says John D. III. "What weinherited was ours on a service basis." The 56th floor is divided intofour suites, one for each of the four surviving sons of John D. Jr.They are John D. Ill, 68, Nelson, 66, Laurance, 64, and David, 59.
There is no office for the fifth son, Winthrop, who died of cancer 19months ago at age 60. He moved to Arkansas in the '50s, where herevitalized the state Republican Party and served two terms as Governor. He gave millions to education and other causes in hisadopted state and as Governor attempted to reform the state's notoriousprison system. Nor is there an office in Rockefeller Plaza for JohnJr.'s oldest child, Daughter Abby Mauze, 70, the widow of Banker JeanMauze. Although she has been a major contributor to cancer research anddonated a small park to New York City, she and her philanthropies havebeen overshadowed by those of her brothers. Explains John D. Ill: "Itwas five to one, and this was before women's lib."
In 1940 the six children of John D. Jr. established the RockefellerBrothers Fund, to which their father willed half his estate. The fundis the one philanthropy that they operate jointly. In 1972 it madenearly 300 grants totaling more than $11 million. Now John D. Jr.'sgrandchildren, the Cousins, as the family calls them, are carrying thetradition into the fourth generation. With their parents, they havecreated the Rockefeller Family Fund, described by a staffer as a"swinging" philanthropy that supports projects in five areas:conservation, equal opportunity for women, institutional"responsiveness," the arts and public aesthetics, and education.
Population problems have been the most abiding concern of John D. III.He helped support Birth Control Pioneer Margaret Sanger in the 1930sand in 1952 established the Population Council, which supportscontraception research and family-planning programs around the globe.John D. III's concern over campus turmoil in the late '60s inspired hisTask Force on Youth, set up to encourage and support projects in whichthe young can collaborate with the Establishment.
The Task Force is part of the JDR 3rd Fund, which for its first fouryears, beginning in 1963, was devoted to the support of Asian arts andcultural exchanges between the U.S. and Asia. John D. III recently gavehis superb private collection of Asian art to the Asia Society, which he established in 1956. He was a prime moverin the development of Manhattan's Lincoln Center, to which he gave $11million.
Laurance Rockefeller inherited two special interests from his father:conservation and medical research. Last week marked the 25thanniversary of his gift to the U.S. Government of 33,562 acres atJackson Hole, Wyo. The land became Grand Teton National Park. Thanks to another gift from Laurance, thereis also a 5,000-acre national park on the island of St. John in theU.S. Virgins.
Laurance has given time as well as money to philanthropy. In 1939 he wasappointed to his first public post, as a member of the PalisadesInterstate Park Commission, which operates a string of parks on thewest side of the Hudson River. In 1963 he went to work for BrotherNelson, succeeding Robert Moses as chairman of the New York StateCouncil of Parks and Outdoor Recreation, a post he has since resigned.He has pushed for bond issues that have helped the state acquirehundreds of thousands of acres of land for parks and recreation. Inmedical research, Laurance is a founder and chairman of the MemorialSloan-Kettering Cancer Center, parent of the renowned researchinstitute.
When David Rockefeller was seven years old, he received an allowance of50¢ a week. He was told to save 5¢ and contribute 5¢ to charity. "Ourparents made us feel from an early age that we had to contribute, notjust take," he recalls. As chairman of the Chase Manhattan Bank, theworld's third largest , David is one of the most powerful men inAmerica. As the de facto head of the American Establishment, it hasbeen said that for him the presidency would be a demotion.
David is a life trustee of the University of Chicago, where he earned aPh.D. in economics, and chairman of the board of Rockefeller University. He is chairman of an association that hashelped plan the redevelopment of Lower Manhattan and a participant insimilar projects in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Atlanta.
At 37, John D. Rockefeller IV, the son of John D. III, is by far thebest known and most political of the Cousins. "Jay" went to WestVirginia in 1964 for an "American grass-roots experience" and has beenthere ever since. After two years as a poverty worker, he switched topolitics because he figured it was the way "to get things done." Fromthe state legislature he became secretary of state in 1968, thensuffered a setback in 1972 when he lost his bid for Governor. "Jay" isnow president of West Virginia Wesleyan College, a small, coeducationalMethodist school, and thinking of running for Governor again in 1976."I am driven to, attracted by, I love public life," says Jay. "Look atthe alternatives. Business?"
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