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Oldest US Olympic medal winner dies after a healthy life

James Stillman Rockefeller, the oldest-known US Olympic medal winner and the former head of the bank that became Citigroup, died Tuesday. He was 102.

Rockefeller suffered a stroke on Thursday, said his grandson, Stillman, who lived with him at his Greenwich home.

Records of the US Olympic Committee show that Rockefeller was the oldest American medal winner, a USOC spokeswoman said.

He was the captain of Yale University's eight-man rowing team with coxswain that won the gold medal at the 1924 Paris Olympics. Another member of the crew was Dr. Benjamin Spock, a renowned pediatrician who wrote a best-selling book about raising children.

The oars from the winning race and the gold medal were proudly displayed in Rockefeller's house, Stillman Rockefeller said.

"I think he was really proud of that -- probably more than the bank career," his grandson said.

Stillman Rockefeller, who lived with his grandfather for two years, attributed his long life to a regimented lifestyle: breakfast at 8am, lunch at 1pm, cocktails at 6pm (always a rye with water), and dinner promptly at 7pm. He liked plain food, without sauces or cheese, and plenty of fresh vegetables, including those grown in the garden of his estate.

Rockefeller was in good health until shortly before he died. He drove his car up until last year and would review documents from the various charities and businesses he helped lead, his grandson said.

Rockefeller, born June 8, 1902, was a grandson of William Rockefeller, who founded Standard Oil with his brother, John D. Rockefeller.

He graduated from Yale in 1924 and served in the Airborne Command during World War II.

Rockefeller started at the bank, then called the National City Bank, in 1930, following his uncle and grandfather, who were leaders of the bank.

He became president of the bank in 1952, chairman in 1959 and retired in 1967.
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