Michael Rockefeller claims, no remains or other proof of his death have ever been discovered. Rockefeller was the fifth and last child of Mary Todhunter Rockefeller and Nelson Rockefeller. He was the third son of seven children fathered by Nelson Rockefeller, and he had a twin sister, Mary. After attending The Buckley School in New York, and graduating from the Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire, where he was a student senator and exceptional varsity wrestler, Rockefeller graduated "cum laude" from Harvard University with a B.A. in history and economics. In 1960, he served for six months as a private in the
Founder's Hall (Rockefeller University) business, from which he retired in 1897. His efforts at philanthropy were formally guided from 1891 by Frederick T. Gates, a Baptist minister who had previously (1889) recommended to Rockefeller that he establish the University of Chicago. Much of Rockefeller's early philanthropy was on a comparatively small scale, and it was soon clear that larger-scale endeavors needed to be organized to properly guide his charitable giving. Gates suggested to Rockefeller that he establish a medical research institute that would be on a par with major European institutions of the period. In June 1902, Rockefeller made a commitment of $1 million