Johnson & Johnson Former Chairman P.B. Hofmann Dies
From Times Wire Services
MIAMI —
Philip B. Hofmann, who went from shipping clerk to chairman and chief executive officer of Johnson & Johnson, died Tuesday. He was 77.
Hofmann had suffered a heart attack earlier this month while at his winter home in Miami, a spokesman for the health products company said.
In 1963 Hofmann became chairman of J & J. In 1973 he retired from the company based in New Brunswick, N.J., after 43 years.
He had joined the firm in 1931 as a shipping clerk after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania and later became a salesman. By 1940, Hofmann was president of Ortho Pharmaceuticals Corp. and Chicopee, both J & J affiliates.
