Transformed Johnson & Johnson into a global powerhouse
Businessman
New Brunswick, NJ
Made Johnson & Johnson a global powerhouse.
Born, lived and worked in the New Brunswick area most of his life.
Over two decades, R.W. Johnson grew his family business from an $11 million company specializing in surgical dressings into $700 million company selling medical supplies, personal care products and pharmaceuticals.
Johnson first took the J&J helm in the 1930s as president in 1932 and chairman in 1938. During World War II, he accepted an appointment from President Franklin Roosevelt to serve on the War Plants Board. The Board awarded thousands of government contracts related to the war. It was during this time Johnson earned his lifetime nickname of "General."
Meanwhile, Johnson and Johnson created significant innovations for the war effort - first aid kits and duct tape (to seal ammunition boxes) among them.
Returning to J&J, Johnson instituted two decades of uncompromising discipline, quality and customer-focus. He was so uncompromising, he even fired his nephew and later his son.
Johnson helped found Northwestern University as a specialized institution for educating and training hospital administrators and he also funded improved education for doctors and nurses.
When he died in 1968, he bequeathed more than $1 billion to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which he had founded in 1936.
Also thriving in New Jersey as a result of Johnson's philanthropy are the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.