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Robert Wood Johnson was born in Carbondale Pennsylvania on Feb. 15, 1845. At the age of 44 in 1886, Johnson, along with his two brothers, James and Mead, started what is now one of the world's largest healthcare companies, Johnson & Johnson.
A salesman and former pharmacist's apprentice, Robert Wood Johnson served as president of Johnson & Johnson until his death on Feb. 7, 1910.
Heavily influenced by the teachings of Joseph Lister, who had discovered airborne germs, Johnson wanted to make health-care products that were as germ free as possible. This led to the production of high-quality, inexpensive medical and surgical supplies such as antiseptic bandages and dressings.
Operating rooms were still void of modern sterilization techniques at the time, and many patients died from preventable infections. In 1988 Johnson & Johnson published "Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment," an authoritative book that educated its major market - physicians - about the values of disinfection and sterilization. Johnson & Johnson placed advertisements for its products within the book and within six years the company was producing 3.5 million yards of gauze a year.
If you've ever used a Band-Aid, you have Robert Wood Johnson to thank - and Earle Dickson. Dickson was a cotton mill worker for Johnson & Johnson in 1920. His wife was just learning to cook at the time, and she was constantly burning and scraping herself. Dickson created makeshift bandages out of small patches of Johnson & Johnson gauze attached to adhesive tape. The bandages worked so well that Dickson presented the idea to Johnson & Johnson management - who turned it into a product named Band-Aids - now a staple in every household’s medicine cabinet. Dickson was promoted to vice president.
The above tale in many ways describes what made Johnson & Johnson one of the world's largest health-care companies - innovation from within - and the belief that profitable ideas could come from anywhere. The major thrust of the company in its early days was to bring surgical tools into the modern era, but it also brought products such as Baby Powder and First-Aid Kits into the home.
Johnson & Johnson endeared itself to the public and ensured its future good name with its response to three disasters between 1898 and 1906. They supplied medical supplies to the government during the Spanish-American War. They replaced all damaged company goods for druggists at zero cost following the great Galveston hurricane of 1900. And after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, Johnson & Johnson canceled all invoices to druggists that were under $100, and became the largest single donor of supplies to a devastated city. Revenues tripled from $1 million to $3 million from 1898-1906.
Robert Wood Johnson died of Bright's Disease in 1910, and his brother James took over until the founder's son, Robert Wood Johnson II was ready to take the helm. Johnson II was only 16 when his father died, but he was always being groomed for the top spot in the company. While it’s true he inherited a $2 million trust composed of Johnson & Johnson stock, Johnson II started at the bottom working in the company factories.
Different sources paint different pictures of Johnson II. Some said he was an earnest young man who labored alongside other blue-collar workers while showing a strong sense of civic commitment. Others described him as an arrogant rich kid with a soft spot for fast cars, planes, boats, and the New York social scene. The truth lies somewhere in between.
Johnson II took over control of his trust when he was 25 and was made general superintendent of Johnson & Johnson. At the time the company held 90 percent share of the surgical dressings market. Johnson II became president of Johnson & Johnson in 1932 and chairman of the board in 1938. Under his direction, the company grew from $11 million to $700 million in annual sales and expanded from New Jersey to around the globe.
A politician, writer, sailor, pilot, activist and philanthropist at various stages of his life, Johnson II also served in World War II as a brigadier general in charge of the New York Ordnance District. This gave rise to the name many knew him by, General Johnson.
Johnson II grew up in an era when privileged individuals were expected to give back a portion of their wealth to the community, and he didn’t disappoint, giving generously to the underprivileged and particularly to health-related facilities in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Johnson II’s institutional vehicle for giving was the Johnson New Brunswick Foundation, which he established in 1936 with a donation of 12,000 shares of Johnson & Johnson stock and 130 acres of land along the Raritan River in New Brunswick.
The Johnson New Brunswick Foundation's earliest gifts and grants ranged from food and clothing for poor families, to fixing an orphan boy's teeth, to a down payment on a house for a highly regarded black policeman with a wife and eight children. Two early beneficiaries of the Foundation that remain connected to Johnson & Johnson today include Cenacle House and the Salvation Army.
In 1952, the foundation was renamed The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Johnson II continued to make regular contributions of common stock until he died in 1968. At the time of his death the Foundation held 569,130 shares, with a value of $60,000,000. By the time Johnson II’s estate had been dealt with in 1971, the value of his donated shares had increased to $1.2 billion, creating one of the world’s largest private philanthropies.
The Foundation’s 1972 Annual Report identified three national program strategies for the Foundation:
- Improving access to medical care for underserved Americans
- Improving the quality of health and medical care
- Developing mechanisms for objective analysis of public policies in health
While Johnson II had primarily been interested in giving to organizations within New Jersey, Gustav Lienhard, Foundation chairman and CEO until 1986, broadened the Foundation’s reach. In 2003, nationwide contributions of cash and goods by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation totaled $316.5 million, primarily in the area of healthcare.
Johnson II was always keen to help others - an attitude he learned from his father.
For more information about the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation please visit:
http://www.rwjf.org/
For more information about Johnson & Johnson please visit:
http://www.jnj.com/
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