Calling him such would scarcely be going too far. The American Baptist Education Society began to solicit funds from Rockefeller to build a national Baptist university in the late 1880s, although views differed on where it should be located. In a runoff against Washington, D.C., Rockefeller picked Chicago and made a generous initial donation of US $ 600,000 to get things started.
一八八○年代末期，美國浸信會教育組織開始向洛克斐勒遊說勸募，想要興建一所有代表性的浸信會大學，只是大學的地點眾說紛紜，無法敲定，最後洛克斐勒在華盛頓與芝加哥兩地「決選」中，選定了芝加哥，並且慨然捐出第一筆款項﹘﹘六十萬美元﹘﹘做為籌備之用，芝大於焉誕生。