Herbert Fisk Johnson Jr. (November 15, 1899 – December 13, 1978), was an American businessman and manufacturer. He was the grandson of company founder Samuel Curtis Johnson. He was the third generation of his family to lead S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc of

Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is located on the shore of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Root River. Racine is situated 22 miles (35 km) south of Milwaukee and approximately 60 ...

Cornell

He graduated from Cornell University in 1922. He was an active board member from 1947 to 1972, an emeritus board member from 1972 to 1978, a Presidential Councillor and one of the university's preeminent benefactors. He was a member of the Chi Psi fraternity. The I. M. Pei designed Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art on the Cornell campus is named for him.

SC Johnson & Son

Johnson took over leadership of SC Johnson & Son from his father

Herbert Fisk Johnson Sr. Herbert Fisk Johnson (May 27, 1868 – February 14, 1928) was an American businessman. He was the son of company founder Samuel Curtis Johnson Sr. He was the second generation of his family to lead S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc., of Racine, Wisconsi ...

and served as its president. He passed it to his son,

Samuel Curtis Johnson Jr. Samuel Curtis Johnson Jr. (March 2, 1928 – May 22, 2004) was an American businessman. He was the fourth generation of his family to lead S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc., which is headquartered in Racine, Wisconsin. He was the son of Herbert ...

Johnson Wax Administration Building

In 1936, he hired Frank Lloyd Wright to design a new

administration building Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...

for his company in Racine, Wisconsin.

His home

Soon after the commission for the administration building, Johnson commissioned Wright to build him a home on nearby farmland. The result, known as

Wingspread Wingspread, also known as the Herbert F. Johnson House, is a historic house in Wind Point, Wisconsin. It was built in 1938–39 to a design by Frank Lloyd Wright for Herbert Fisk Johnson Jr., then the president of S.C. Johnson, and was consid ...

, was built in 1938-39 near

. It was donated by Johnson and his wife,

Irene Purcell Irene Mary Purcell (August 7, 1896 – July 9, 1972) was an American film and stage actress, who appeared mostly in comedies, and later married Herbert Fisk Johnson Jr., the wealthy grandson of the founder of S. C. Johnson & Son. Career She ...

to The

Johnson Family Foundation Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...

in 1959 as an international educational conference facility.

Film

In 1935, Johnson flew from Milwaukee to

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...

, Ceará, in an amphibious twin-engine Sikorsky S-38. The trip was to learn more about the carnauba palm tree ( Copernicia prunifera) of north eastern Brazil which produced carnauba wax, one of the main products of his company, and to determine whether groves of these trees could produce enough to meet future demand. This led to investments in Brazil, establishment of a subsidiary in 1960, and eventually to the foundation of the

Serra das Almas Private Natural Heritage Reserve Serra das Almas Private Natural Heritage Reserve ( pt, RPPN Reserva Natural Serra das Almas) is a private natural heritage reserve in the states of Ceará and Piauí, Brazil. Origins The reserve has its origins in a trip made by Herbert Fisk Joh ...

to protect an area of the caatinga biome including wild carnauba palms. His 1935 two month, 7,500 mile journey to northeastern Brazil as well as his somewhat difficult relationship with his son,

, was documented in his son's 2001 film ''Carnuba: A Son's Memoir''. The film includes footage from a repeat of that journey that the Johnson family undertook in 1998.

Personal life

Johnson was married three times. He married his first wife, the former Gertrude Brauner, daughter of Cornell University professor Olaf Brauner, in 1923. They were the parents of three children, Karen (b. 16 May 1924), Henrietta (b. 16 April 1927) and Samuel Curtis Jr.(b. 2 March 1928). Herbert and Gertrude were divorced about 1931; their middle daughter Henrietta also died in 1931 (30 March). He later married (31 December 1936) the former (Esther) Jane Tilton, the widow of William Clyde Roach of Indianapolis, Indiana. Jane died from an embolism on 30 May 1938 in Racine. In 1941, Johnson married

, an actress. They remained married until her death in 1972.

References

External links

Summary of ''Carnuba: A Son's Memoir''

Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Herbert Fisk, Jr. Businesspeople from Racine, Wisconsin Samuel Curtis Johnson family Cornell University alumni 20th-century American businesspeople Burials in Wisconsin Phillips family (New England) 1899 births 1978 deaths