ROCKEFELLER, JOHN D(AVISON), JR.

born Jan. 29, 1874, Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. died May 11, 1960, Tucson, Ariz. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. U.S. philanthropist, son of John D. Rockefeller, Sr., and heir to the Rockefeller fortune, who built Rockefeller Center in New York City and was instrumental in the decision to locate the United Nations in that city. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., joined his father in business for a time but from 1910 devoted his energies almost exclusively to philanthropy. He was the only son of Rockefeller Senior and Laura Spelman Rockefeller. After graduation from Brown University in 1897, he entered his father's office. What business interests he pursued were associated with his father's longstanding opposition to strikes by organized labour, and he at least condoned the so-called Ludlow Massacre (April 20, 1914), in which sit-in strikers at the Rockefeller-owned Colorado Fuel and Iron Company were fired on by militiamen, resulting in over 40 deaths. Later, his agents were responsible for creating the nation's first company unions, controlled by management. In association with his father, he created major philanthropic institutions, including the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (renamed Rockefeller University) in New York City (1901), the General Education Board (1902), and the Rockefeller Foundation (1913). In the 1930s he oversaw construction of Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. During World War II he helped establish the United Service Organizations (USO), an agency for the aid of members of the U.S. military and their dependants. After the war, he donated the land for the United Nations headquarters, a gift that figured prominently in the decision to locate the world organization in the United States. In 1958 he donated $5,000,000 for the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. His other philanthropic works included restoration of colonial Williamsburg, Va., construction of low-rent housing in poor sections of New York City; and donations to the city's Riverside Church and the Museum of Modern Art. Rockefeller married twice. The offspring of his first marriage, to Abby Greene Aldrich (18741948) were one daughter, Abby (b. 1903), whose married names were successively Milton, Pardee, and Mauz, and five sons: John D. III, Nelson A., Laurance S., Winthrop, and David (qq.v.).