The Man Who Gave Away Rockefeller’s Millions

August 2026
1min read

THE MEMOIRS OF FREDERICK T. GATES

FREDERICK T. GATES and JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER THE MEMOIRS OF Frederick T. Gates A postscript by Allan Nevins


Frederick Taylor Gates was a Baptist minister when John D. Rockefeller in 1891 assigned him the job of giving away the world’s greatest fortune. For over twenty years he was one of Rockefeller’s closest associates, in business as well as philanthropy, and the architect of the Rockefeller Foundation.

In the early 1920’s he wrote the story of his life, purely for the eyes of his children and their descendants. A MERICAN H ERITAGE is indebted to his son, Russell C. Gates, for permission to reproduce on the following pages the sections dealing with his work for Mr. Rockefeller.

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