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Rodman Clark Rockefeller (May 2, 1932 – May 14, 2000) was an American businessman and philanthropist. A fourth-generation member of the Rockefeller family, he was a son of former U.S. Vice President Nelson A. Rockefeller, a grandson of American financer John D. Rockefeller Jr., and a great-grandson of
Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...
co-founder John D. Rockefeller.


Early life and education

Rockefeller was born on May 2, 1932, in
Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
, New York. He was the eldest son of former U.S. Vice President Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (1908–1979) and his wife Mary Todhunter "Tod" Clark (1908–1999). He was educated at
Deerfield Academy Deerfield Academy (often called Deerfield or DA) is an Independent school, independent College-preparatory school, college-preparatory boarding and day school in Deerfield, Massachusetts. Founded in 1797, it is one of the oldest secondary schoo ...
, at
Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...
, and later earned a
master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...
from
Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
's Graduate School of Business Administration. At Dartmouth, his father's alma mater, he was a member of Green Key, co-edited Dartmouth's freshman handbook, and was elected to
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...
(as had his grandfather, John D. Rockefeller Jr.)


Career

Rockefeller was vice president (1968–1972) and chief executive (1972–1980) of the International Basic Economy Corporation, a New York based commercial genetics and
agribusiness Agribusiness is the industry, enterprises, and the field of study of value chains in agriculture and in the bio-economy, in which case it is also called bio-business or bio-enterprise. The primary goal of agribusiness is to maximize profit ...
concern, founded by his father in 1946. Its activities included the development of corn production in Latin America, and the construction of thousands of low-cost homes in Mexico. He was chairman of IBEC Inc., a successor concern, from 1980 to 1985, and for a number of years was chairman of Arbor Acres Farm, based in Glastonbury, Connecticut, a seller of genetic material for poultry broiler stock. Rockefeller was co-chairman of the Mexico-United States Business Committee, an organization focusing on economic and political issues of interest to both nations' business communities. Some consider the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement in the mid-1990s to have been the culmination of his and the committee's efforts. The honors he received included a prestigious Mexican decoration, the Order of the Aztec Eagle. He was on the board of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund for nine years, and for many years was a trustee of Rockefeller Financial Services, the entity which manages the family's office (known as "Room 5600"), its investment companies, and its many foundations. He was the head of the finance committee of Rockefeller Financial Services for many years and was a longtime trustee of Rockefeller Financial's holding company, Rockefeller & Company. Rockefeller served as chairman of Pocantico Associates, a private capital and real estate investment company, and was a trustee of the
Institute of International Education The Institute of International Education (IIE) is an American 501(c) non-profit organization that focuses on international student exchange and aid, foreign affairs, and international peace and security. IIE creates programs of study and training ...
, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation, the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
, the Americas Society, and the New York Blood Center.


Personal life

In 1953, Rockefeller married Barbara Ann Olsen, with whom he had four children: * Meile Rockefeller * Peter C. Rockefeller * Stuart Rockefeller * Michael Rockefeller The marriage ended in divorce in 1979, and the following year he married Alexandra (Sascha) von Metzler. In 1987, Rockefeller's son Peter married Allison Whipple. Rockefeller died of cancer at his home on New York's Upper East Side on May 14, 2000.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rockefeller, Rodman Clark Rockefeller family Winthrop family American philanthropists Deerfield Academy alumni 1932 births 2000 deaths Children of Nelson Rockefeller Columbia Business School alumni Dartmouth College alumni Clark banking family American people of English descent American people of German descent 20th-century American businesspeople