Businessman. Son of Johnson & Johnson founder Robert Wood Johnson and his second wife, Evangeline Armstrong. He started in the business at the bottom, alongside the common workers. He took over for his father at the age of 16, and took full control of his trust at the age of 25. He served as President for six years, and chairman of the board from 1938 to 1963. Johnson served during World War II as Brigadier General in charge of the New York Ordnance District. This would earn him the name he would be known by for the rest of his life: "The General". He resigned his commission to accept the appointment of vice chairman of the War Production Board and chairman of the Smaller War Plants Corporation. Johnson is described by varying sources as an earnest young man with a strong sense of civic commitment or a spoiled rich kid with a love of fast cars, planes, boats, and the New York social scene. The truth is probably a combination of both. Under his leadership, Johnson & Johnson grew from $11 million to $700 million in annual sales and expanded from New Jersey to worldwide. He created the Johnson New Brunswick Foundation in 1936 to provide goods and services to the needy. The name was changed in 1952 to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and by 1971 its assets would total over $1.2 billion, making it one of the world's biggest private philanthropies.
Businessman. Son of Johnson & Johnson founder Robert Wood Johnson and his second wife, Evangeline Armstrong. He started in the business at the bottom, alongside the common workers. He took over for his father at the age of 16, and took full control of his trust at the age of 25. He served as President for six years, and chairman of the board from 1938 to 1963. Johnson served during World War II as Brigadier General in charge of the New York Ordnance District. This would earn him the name he would be known by for the rest of his life: "The General". He resigned his commission to accept the appointment of vice chairman of the War Production Board and chairman of the Smaller War Plants Corporation. Johnson is described by varying sources as an earnest young man with a strong sense of civic commitment or a spoiled rich kid with a love of fast cars, planes, boats, and the New York social scene. The truth is probably a combination of both. Under his leadership, Johnson & Johnson grew from $11 million to $700 million in annual sales and expanded from New Jersey to worldwide. He created the Johnson New Brunswick Foundation in 1936 to provide goods and services to the needy. The name was changed in 1952 to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and by 1971 its assets would total over $1.2 billion, making it one of the world's biggest private philanthropies.
Bio by: Kristen Conrad
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