Stop 1 of 84, The Storyteller
Andrew Carnegie
Nov 25, 1835 – Aug 11, 1919
aged 83
Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist (1835–1919)
Worked as: Industrialist, philanthropist, entrepreneur, economist
Known for: The Gospel of Wealth
Buried here too: Louise Whitfield Carnegie, wife · Margaret Carnegie Miller, daughter
- Famous
- Gone 100+ years
- Grave photo on file
- Died during the 1918 flu pandemic
- Their world: the first telegraph message (1844) · the first telephone call (1876) · World War I (1914–1918)
Andrew Carnegie (November 25, 1835 – August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late-19th century and became one of the richest Americans in history.
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He became a leading philanthropist in the United States, Great Britain, and the British Empire. During the last 18 years of his life, he gave away around $350 million (equivalent to $6.9 billion in 2025 dollars), almost 90 percent of his fortune, to charities, foundations and universities. His 1889 article proclaiming "The Gospel of Wealth" called on the rich to use their wealth to improve society, expressed support for progressive taxation and an estate tax, and stimulated a wave of philanthropy.
Carnegie was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. He immigrated to what is now Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his parents in 1848 at the age of 12. Carnegie started work in a cotton mill and later worked as a telegrapher. By the 1860s, he had investments in railroads, railroad sleeping cars, bridges, and oil derricks. He accumulated further wealth as a bond salesman, raising money for American enterprise in Europe. He built Pittsburgh's Carnegie Steel Company, which he sold to J. P. Morgan in 1901 for $303,450,000; it formed the basis of the U.S. Steel Corporation. After selling Carnegie Steel, he surpassed John D. Rockefeller as the richest American of the time.
Carnegie devoted the remainder of his life to large-scale philanthropy, with special emphasis on building local libraries, working for world peace, education, and scientific research. He funded Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Peace Palace in The Hague, founded the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Carnegie Institution for Science, Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Carnegie Hero Fund, Carnegie Mellon University, and the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, among others.
