John Jacob Astor (July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848)

Astor was a German-American business magnate, merchant and investor
who was the first prominent member of the Astor family and the first multi-
millionaire in the United States. He was the creator of the first trust in
America.

Astor arrived in New York following the American Revolutionary War
and built a fur-trading empire that extended to the Great Lakes region
and Canada, and later expanded into the American West and Pacific
coast. He diversified into real estate and later became a famous patron 
of the arts.