William Goodsell Rockefeller (May 21, 1870 – November 30, 1922) was an American businessman who was treasurer of the Standard Oil Company of New York and a member of the Rockefeller family.
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Early life
Rockefeller was born on May 21, 1870, in Manhattan, New York City. He was the third child of Standard Oil co-founder William Avery Rockefeller Jr. and Almira Geraldine Goodsell, who married in 1864. His uncle was John D. Rockefeller and his paternal grandfather was William Rockefeller Sr.
Rockefeller attended Yale University, where he was a member of Alpha Delta Phi, and graduated in 1892.
Career
Although he was predicted by Thomas W. Lawson to be the future head of Standard Oil, the prediction did not prove true. Following his graduation from Yale, he suffered a serious attack of typhoid fever before entering 26 Broadway. Rockefeller was treasurer of the Standard Oil Company of New York for several years until his retirement in 1911.
Rockefeller served as a director of the Brooklyn Union Gas Company (of which he was also vice-president), the Inspiration Consolidated Copper Company, the New York Mutual Gas Light Company, the Oregon Short Line Railroad, the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, the Union Pacific Railroad, and the Consolidated Textile Company, of which he had only been elected a director shortly before his death in 1922.