Samuel Johnson, 76; Expanded Wax Firm
Samuel Johnson, who became a billionaire by expanding the wax company started by his great-grandfather into the consumer products giant SC Johnson, died of cancer Saturday, his family said. He was 76.
Johnson, who retired as chairman of the Racine, Wisc.-based company in 2000, was the richest man in Wisconsin, with a fortune estimated by Forbes magazine this year at $7.4 billion. Johnson’s son, Fisk Johnson, succeeded him as chairman.
In 1967, Johnson became the fourth generation to lead the 118-year-old family business that once was called Johnson Wax. He turned it into four global companies that now employ more than 28,000 people and make furniture polishes, waxes and other household cleaning products.
Under Johnson’s leadership, SC Johnson’s annual sales rose from about $171 million to about $6 billion. The company now generates more than $8 billion in annual sales and operates in more than 70 countries, according to its website.
In 1975, Johnson removed chlorofluorocarbon propellants from his company’s products, three years before the government required it. Fortune magazine inducted him into the U.S. National Business Hall of Fame, calling him “corporate America’s leading environmentalist,” the company said.
Johnson also was a philanthropist who showed a civic commitment to many projects. He was a founding member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, which advised world leaders at the historic Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
Recently, Johnson joined a coalition of environmental, business and religious groups in opposing a plan to build two coal-fired power plants in Oak Creek.
A Racine native, Johnson earned degrees from Cornell University and Harvard Business School and served for two years as an Air Force intelligence officer. The Johnson Graduate School at Cornell is named for the family.
Johnson is survived by his wife of 50 years, Imogene; four children; 12 grandchildren; three step-grandchildren; and a sister. A memorial service is scheduled for Thursday.
