Entrepreneur. He is recognized as an American multi-millionaire of the Gilded Age, who became known as a ruthless businessman, sometimes working outside of the law to make a profit. He was called the "Robber Baron." Born Jason Gould into poverty, he had some formal education attending the Hobart Academy, specializing in bookkeeping, but was mainly self-taught by reading. After leaving school, he was a blacksmith and had a tannery for a short time. Too frail for farming, he turned to an early career in land surveying and commodity speculation by 1859, which led to an interest in railroad stocks. In 1859 he relocated to New York City, where he became a broker in railway stocks. By marrying the daughter of a prominent businessman, Helen Day Miller, in 1863, he was in the position to be appointed manager of the near-bankrupt Rensselaer & Saratoga Railway. After returning that railroad to profitability, he purchased and reorganized the Rutland & Washington Railway, gaining another large profit. In 1868, he partnered with James Fisk to successfully fight Cornelius Vanderbilt for control of the Erie Railroad. Gould and Fisk plundered the railroad's assets and issued $5 million in fraudulent stock from 1868 to 1870. He and three other men are credited in covering the stock market in loose gold, causing the financial panic of "Black Friday" on September 24, 1869. With public outcry and litigation, Gould relinquished the control of the railroad in March of 1872 and was required to pay $7.5 million restitution. Fisk only escaped the court's wrath by being murdered in January of 1872. After the Erie debacle, Gould gained control of the Union Pacific Railroad with his fortune of $25 million, which led to the formation of the Gould System of four Western railroads with 10,000 miles of track, about one-ninth of the railway mileage of the United States at that time. Gould withdrew from the UP Railroad in 1883 after realizing a large profit on his stock. Gould also obtained a controlling interest in Western Union and led it to victory in its battle for control of the telegraph industry. Through his career, he was a ruthless, unscrupulous and despised railroad tycoon and had no close friends. A widower, he died of tuberculosis on December 2, 1892, when his fortune was estimated at $77 million, which went to his heirs and a few charitable causes. He and his wife had six children.