Financier and Philanthropist.  Born into the wealthy and socially prominent Rockefeller family, he was the eldest son of John Davison Rockefeller Jr and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller.  He attended primary education at the Browning School in New York City, and at the Loomis Institute in Windsor, Connecticut.  In 1929, he graduated from Princeton University where he received high honors in economics, graduating with a BS degree, choosing industrial relations for his senior thesis.  His interest in industrial relations is believed to have come from the Ludlow Massacre of April 20, 1914, in which company security guards viciously attacked and killed two wives and eleven children of striking coal miners (as well as six of the striking miners) at the Rockefeller owned Colorado Fuel and Iron Company, and for which his father had to spend considerable effort to restore the family’s soured public reputation following the incident.  In 1932, he married Blanchette Ferry Hooker, from another socially prominent family, and they had four children (one son and three daughters):  John D. IV, Sandra, Hope Aldrich and Alida.  Young Rockefeller grew up believing that it was his duty as the eldest child of six siblings to manage the family endeavors.  He would sit on nearly twenty boards of various institutions, most of which were family related.  His younger brother, Nelson, disagreed with his brother’s position on running the family, and John’s early career up to the 1960s were filled with bitter family fights between him and his brother Nelson or between him and his father, over national politics, over control of Rockefeller Center, and over restoration of colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.  Eventually John settled on philanthropy as his major interest in life, and left his brothers Nelson and Winthrop to devote themselves to politics, his bother Laurence to conservation, and his brother David to banking.  Prominent in a number of foreign policy institutions, including the Council on Foreign Relations and the Institute of Pacific Relations, Rockefeller accompanied Secretary of State John Foster Dulles on his trip to Japan in late 1950, to help conclude a peace treaty, during which time he consulted with many Japanese leaders over practically every aspect of that country’s life.  In 1956, he founded the Asia Society, to foster greater cooperation between Asian countries and the United States.  He set up the United Negro College Fund for helping African Americans to gain a college education. In the mid 1950s, he also assumed leadership of the committee trying to create the Lincoln Center, and became the key figure in its fund raising efforts.  He also became its first president when the Lincoln Center opened in 1966, serving as chainman until 1970.  In 1958, he established the Rockefeller Public Service Awards to recognize others who gave service to the public good.  The following year, he was recognized with the Hundred Year Association of New York’s Gold Medal Award, for his contributions to the City of New York.  In 1982, Rockefeller College at Princeton University was named in his honor.  Rockefeller died in an automobile accident in Mount Pleasant, New York, near the Rockefeller family estate of Pocantico. (bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson)  Family links:  Parents:  John D. Rockefeller (1874 – 1960)  Abby Greene Aldrich Rockefeller (1874 – 1948)  Spouse:  Blanchette Ferry Hooker Rockefeller (1909 – 1992)*  Siblings:  Abigail Chapman Rockefeller Mauze (1903 – 1976)*  John D. Rockefeller (1906 – 1978)  Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller (1908 – 1979)*  Laurance Spelman Rockefeller (1910 – 2004)*  Winthrop Aldrich Rockefeller (1912 – 1973)* *Calculated relationshipCause of death: Automobile accident