Charles Pratt

Charles Pratt
Born	(1830-10-02)October 2, 1830 Wilbraham, Massachusetts, US
Died	May 4, 1891(1891-05-04) (aged 60) New York City, US
Resting place	Pratt Cemetery, Glen Cove, New York, US
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Founded Pratt Institute
Spouses	Lydia Ann Richardson ​ ​ (m. 1854; died 1861)​ Mary Helen Richardson ​ ​ (m. 1863)​
Children	Charles Millard Pratt Lydia Richardson Pratt Helen Pratt Frederic B. Pratt George Dupont Pratt Herbert L. Pratt John Teele Pratt Harold I. Pratt

Charles Pratt (October 2, 1830 – May 4, 1891) was an American businessman. Pratt was a pioneer of the U.S. petroleum industry, and he established his kerosene refinery Astral Oil Works in Brooklyn, New York. He then lived with his growing family in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. He recruited Henry H. Rogers into his business, forming Charles Pratt and Company in 1867. Seven years later, Pratt and Rogers agreed to join John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil.

An advocate of education, Pratt founded and endowed the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, now a renowned art college. He and his children built country estates in Glen Cove, New York, which became known as the Gold Coast in the 1920s on the North Shore of Long Island. In 1916, Standard Oil had a steamship tanker, the first of its class, built at Newport News, Virginia, and it was named in honor of Pratt.