Dan Cody

While rumors about Gatsby began to fill the atmosphere, Nick begins to experience a moment where Jay gets to revisit his past. During his college years, Gatsby was attending St. Olaf's college in Minnesota. Jay was remembering his humiliating job of being a janitor and decided to work at Lake Superior to help pay his tuition. Well one day while working on the Lake, he saw a yacht that was owned by a man named Dan Cody,a wealthy copper mogul. Dan sailed up to Jay and warned him about the upcoming storm. Cody was caring enough to pick up Jay and actually gave him his name of Jay Gatsby. Since a yacht is filled with wealth and luxury, Gatsby fell in love with the idea of becoming successful and not lead a life of poverty. Dan was a caring man, but he was a heavy drinker. One of his jobs was to look after Dan while he was drunk. Jay realized that leading a life of alcohol was not a life worth leading. This gave Jay the personal commitment to never become a drinker. When Dan died, he left a total of about $25,000 of inheritance. However, Cody's mistress denied his claiming of the money, but it did not make Gatsby lose his love for money. He decided to commit to himself to becoming a wealthy and successful man.

Source : The Great Gatsby