<P> Biographer Ron Chernow wrote of Rockefeller: </P> <P> What makes him problematic--and why he continues to inspire ambivalent reactions--is that his good side was every bit as good as his bad side was bad . Seldom has history produced such a contradictory figure . </P> <P> Rockefeller is largely remembered simply for the raw size of his wealth . In 1902, an audit showed Rockefeller was worth about $200 million--compared to the total national GDP of $24 billion then . </P> <P> His wealth continued to grow significantly (in line with U.S. economic growth) after as the demand for gasoline soared, eventually reaching about $900 million on the eve of the First World War, including significant interests in banking, shipping, mining, railroads, and other industries . According to the New York Times obituary, "it was estimated after Mr. Rockefeller retired from business that he had accumulated close to $1,500,000,000 out of the earnings of the Standard Oil trust and out of his other investments . This was probably the greatest amount of wealth that any private citizen had ever been able to accumulate by his own efforts ." By the time of his death in 1937, Rockefeller's remaining fortune, largely tied up in permanent family trusts, was estimated at $1.4 billion, while the total national GDP was $92 billion . According to some methods of wealth calculation, Rockefeller's net worth over the last decades of his life would easily place him as the wealthiest known person in recent history . As a percentage of the United States' GDP, no other American fortune--including those of Bill Gates or Sam Walton--would even come close . </P>

Who was the first american billionaire and what business made him wealthy