James S. Rockefeller, who with his Yale varsity eight teammates earned a gold medal in rowing for the United States at the 1924 Olympic Games, will celebrate his 101st birthday on June 8. Born in 1902, Rockefeller is believed to be the oldest living U.S. Olympic medalist.
Rockefeller, who was pictured on the cover of the July 7, 1924 edition of Time magazine, and his fellow collegians turned in a time of 6:33.4 in the eight-oared shell with coxswain event at Paris to finish ahead of the Canadian squad (6:49.0). Other members of the team, which Rockefeller captained, were Leonard Carpenter, Howard Kingsbury, Daniel Lindley, John Miller, Frederick Sheffield, Alfred Wilson, Laurence Stoddard and (Dr.) Benjamin Spock, who went on to additional fame as a world-renowned pediatrician.
A grandson of Standard Oil co-founder William R. Rockefeller, the Olympian is a private person who "went to work" after representing the United States at the Games in Paris. Rockefeller is a former president and chairman of the First National City Bank of New York (now Citibank) and was one of nine recipients of the inaugural George H.W. Bush Lifetime of Leadership Awards presented in November 2001 during the Yale Athletic Department's Blue Leadership Ball.
Rockefeller, who plans to observe his birthday with just a few members of his family, cites living a normal life as the key to his longevity. Asked if he has any advice for others who want to live a century or more, the Olympian replied, "Behave yourself. And don't get into arguments."