Edward Robinson Squibb
Co-founder 1858Background
Edward Robinson Squibb founded the company in 1858 with the radical vision of producing chemicals and medicines of the highest possible purity, a decision that shifted the company away from the impure and inconsistent medical supplies of the 19th century and established the foundational business model of rigorous scientific quality control and industrial-scale pharmaceutical manufacturing.
Role at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
Bristol-Myers Squibb is the product of a 1989 mega-merger between two historic, distinct American pharmaceutical companies: Bristol-Myers and E.R. Squibb & Sons. The older of the two companies, Squibb, was founded in 1858 in Brooklyn, New York, by Dr. Edward Robinson Squibb. Dr. Squibb was an idealistic physician who had served in the US Navy. He was appalled by the horrific quality of medicines available during the era; anesthetics like ether were often impure, resulting in patient deaths or agonizing pain during surgery. Driven by a moral imperative, he invented a method for the continuous distillation of ether, ensuring chemical purity. He famously refused to patent his invention, freely publishing his findings for the benefit of humanity. Squibb built his company on the principle of quality control, eventually becoming a supplier of reliable medicines to the Union Army during the Civil War. Conversely, Bristol-Myers was founded in 1887 in Clinton, New York, by William McLaren Bristol and John Ripley Myers, two alumni of Hamilton College. They purchased a struggling pharmaceutical company for $5,000. Unlike Dr. Squibb, Bristol and Myers were not scientists; they were aggressive, brilliant marketers. Their foundational success came not from life-saving medicines, but from high-volume consumer products. In the early 20th century, they achieved national success with Sal Hepatica (a laxative mineral salt) and Ipana (the first toothpaste to contain a disinfectant). For decades, Bristol-Myers operated heavily as a profitable consumer products and toiletries company, only pivoting back toward prescription pharmaceuticals following World War II, setting the stage for the 1989 merger that united Squibb's scientific rigor with Bristol-Myers' commercial power.