Ralph S. Larsen (November 18, 1938 – March 9, 2016) was an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of Johnson & Johnson from 1989 to 2002.The Wall Street Journal biography /ref> /ref>
Early life and education
Ralph Larsen was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in a family of five siblings in 1938.Harvard Business School profile /ref> His father was a first-generation immigrant from
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the ...
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', October 30, 1988 He joined the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
for a few years. He worked his way through college, taking electrical jobs, and he received a
Bachelor of Business Administration
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...
Larsen joined Johnson & Johnson as a trainee in 1962, and worked there until 1981. In 1979 he was part of a team that helped turn the painkiller
Tylenol Tylenol may refer to:
* Paracetamol
Paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, is a medication used to treat fever and mild to moderate pain. Common brand names include Tylenol and Panadol.
At a standard dose, paracetamol only slightly decr ...
into a blockbuster drug, with annual sales rising from $70 million to $500 million."Ralph S. Laren builder of giand Johnson and Johnson dies at 77" ''New York Times'' obituary. In 1981–1983 he worked as president of consumer products at
Becton Dickinson
Becton, Dickinson and Company, also known as BD, is an American multinational medical technology company that manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems, and reagents. BD also provides consulting and analytics services in certai ...
. In 1983 he re-joined Johnson & Johnson as president of Chicopee until 1986, and he was vice-chairman of the corporation until 1989. He served as CEO in 1989 to 2002. From 1994 to 1999 he reduced the annual operating costs to $2 billion to make the company more competitive. He also produced a consecutive string of 25% shareholder return rates.
Larsen was on the board of directors of
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...
and
AT&T
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...
. In 1998–2000 he was on the board of
Xerox
Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...
. He was on the international advisory board of
Salomon Smith Barney
Salomon Brothers, Inc., was an American multinational bulge bracket investment bank headquartered in New York. It was one of the five largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and the most profitable firm on Wall Street dur ...
. From 1999 to 2000 he was chairman of
The Business Council
The Business Council is an organization of business leaders headquartered in Washington, D.C.
In 1998 dozens of federal agents raided the headquarters of Johnson & Johnson's LifeScan unit after it failed to notify the
Food and Drug Administration
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...
of a software glitch in a diabetes diagnostic device that it manufactured. In 2000 LifeScan pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to pay $60 million in fines for selling defective monitoring devices. The company said that while no one at LifeScan had intentionally engaged in wrongdoing, the device was deficient, the company had not properly notified the government, and it had been slow to fix the problem. “Mistakes and misjudgments were made,” Larsen wrote in a statement of apology at the time.
Larsen was a
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
.nndb /ref> He was a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
. He was on the board of trustees of the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is an American philanthropic organization. It is the largest one focused solely on health. Based in Princeton, New Jersey, the foundation focuses on access to health care, public health, health equity, ...
.
Personal life
Larsen was married to Dorothy Zeitfuss, and they had three children. Larsen died in
Naples, Florida
Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the historical city (i.e. in the immediate vicinity of downtown Naples) was 19,115. Naples is a principal city of the Naples-Marco Island, Flori ...