Robert Wood Johnson II

Robert Wood "General" Johnson II (April 4, 1893 – January 30, 1968) was an American businessman. He was one of the sons of Robert Wood Johnson I (co-founder of Johnson & Johnson). He turned the family business into one of the world's largest healthcare corporations.

Early life

Johnson was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His father was Robert Wood Johnson I, co-founder of Johnson & Johnson, and his mother was Evangeline Brewster Armstrong Johnson. Johnson grew up with three siblings: Roberta Johnson, John Seward Johnson I, and Evangeline Johnson. When he was sixteen, their father died, leaving him an estate of $2,000,000. He was attending Rutgers Prep at the time, and dropped out a few months later to starting working full-time at J&J. This gave him an insight into the workings of the company for the rest of his life.

Career

Johnson became vice president at J&J in 1918. Johnson also had an abiding interest in politics, and served a term as the mayor of Highland Park, New Jersey. He was elected president of Johnson & Johnson from 1932–1938, and became chairman of the board of J&J in 1938. Johnson also held a reserve commission in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps during the 1930s. At the outbreak of World War II, Johnson's work in identifying products...
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