Who was the founder of the company that controlled most of the nation's oil refineries?

John D. Rockefeller is recognized as the founder of Standard Oil, a company that dominated the oil refining industry in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His business practices, which included aggressive expansion and the establishment of a monopoly in the oil industry, allowed him to control about 90% of U.S. oil refineries at his peak. Rockefeller's innovative strategies included vertical integration, where he controlled every aspect of production from extraction to refinement to distribution, thus enabling him to lower costs and drive competitors out of business. This established a template for modern corporate consolidation and set significant precedents for both business operations and antitrust regulations in the United States.