Background
In 1884, George F. Getty moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota where he specialised in insurance and corporate law and made a good living in what was the "flour capital" of America. In 1890 his first child, a daughter, died in a typhoid epidemic that hit the city. In 1892, the Gettys had another child, a son, Jean Paul Getty (later known as J. Paul Getty).
In 1904, the Gettys moved from Minnesota to Oklahoma, where George began a career as an independent oilman. Within two years, he had amassed a fortune from his Minnehoma Oil Company and moved his family to Los Angeles, California. In 1913, George lent his son Jean Paul (then aged 21) money to invest in oil wells. By 1915, Jean Paul had made his first million and the following year George and Jean Paul incorporated the Getty Oil Company, later to become Getty Oil.
George never approved of Jean Paul's lifestyle. Perhaps this is why he did not leave the company in the sole control of his son. George F. Getty died in 1930. He left his estate, in the form of the controlling interest in the family firm "George F. Getty, Inc." and valued at between $10 million and $15 million U.S., to his wife Sarah, although Jean Paul Getty became President of the firm.
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