Franz Ernst Schütte (21 November 1836 - 1 February 1911) was a German entrepreneur-businessman who during his lifetime became celebrated for the extent of his wealth. Although his business activities extended across several different sectors, including ship-building and land reclamation-development, it was on account of his oil importing activities, which included the establishment of the "Deutsch-Amerikanische Petroleum Gesellschaft" (DAPG / "German-American Petroleum Company") in 1890, that Schütte acquired the popular soubriquet "The Petroleum King". (The DAPG company was renamed "Esso AG" in 1950.) In his home city Schütte is also remembered as a massively effective Bremen benefactor, both through his own donations and through his effectiveness as a fund raiser among fellow members of