David Rockefeller was born in Manhattan, New York on June 12, 1915. He receiving a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in 1936 and a Ph. D in economics from the University of Chicago in 1940. He was a secretary to New York's mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia. He enlisted in the Army in 1942, attended officer training school, and served in North Africa and France in World War II. He was discharged a captain in 1945.
He began his banking career in 1946 as an assistant manager with the Chase National Bank, which merged with the Bank of Manhattan Company to become Chase Manhattan. He became president of Chase Manhattan and its co-chief executive in 1961. In 1969, he became the chairman and sole chief executive of the bank. He retired from active management in 1981, but continued to serve Chase as chairman of its international advisory council and to act as the bank's foreign diplomat. He was also a philanthropist. He wrote an autobiography, Memoirs, in 2002. He died on March 20, 2017 at the age of 101.
030