When Warren Buffett was in his 20s, he studied biographies of America's historical business titans, from J.P. Morgan to John D. Rockefeller to Andrew Carnegie. 

 

He was primarily drawn, of course, by their ability to accumulate vast fortunes. But he was also intrigued by the way the tycoons became philanthropists. Rockefeller and his son, John Rockefeller Jr., used their millions to cure disease, launch the green revolution in global agriculture and fund countless arts and cultural programs. Carnegie founded the nation's first library system and a famed concert hall, living true to his famous dictum that "the man who thus dies rich, dies disgraced." Read more...