One of the most effective attacks on Rockefeller and his firm was the 1904 publication of The History of the Standard Oil Company, by Ida Tarbell, a leading muckraker. She documented the company's espionage, price wars, heavy-handed marketing tactics, and courtroom evasions. John Davison Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 - May 23, 1937) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. He founded Standard Oil in 1870 with his brother William, along with Henry Flagler, Jabez Bostwick, chemist Samuel Andrews, and a silent partner, Stephen Harkness. As kerosene and gasoline grew in importance, Rockefeller's wealth soared, and he became the world's richest man and the first American worth more than a billion dollars. Adjusting for inflation, he is often regarded as the richest person in history. He spent the last 40 years of his life in retirement. His fortune was mainly used to create the modern systematic approach of targeted philanthropy. He was able to do this through the creation of foundations that had a major effect on medicine, education, and scientific research. He died of arteriosclerosis in 1937, two months shy of his 98th birthday. Illustrated by Frank Arthur Nankivell for Puck and published by Keppler & Schwarzmann, March 14, 1906.