Founder Profile
Robert Wood Johnson
Last reviewed: November 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Robert Wood Johnson?
Robert Wood Johnson is a founder of Johnson & Johnson, which was founded in 1886 with James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson.
- Company founded
- Johnson & Johnson
- Founded
- 1886
- Co-founders
- James Wood Johnson and Edward Mead Johnson
Background
Before J&J he was a pharmacist's apprentice and later a partner in the Brooklyn medical-supply firm Seabury & Johnson.
Founding Story
Robert Wood Johnson (1845-1910) co-founded Johnson & Johnson in 1886 and served as its first president. Influenced by Joseph Lister's antiseptic methods, he led the company's mass production of sterile surgical dressings and sutures and its early medical-education publishing, including the 1888 guide Modern Methods of Antiseptic Wound Treatment.
Education: Wyoming Seminary.
Robert Wood Johnson I was born on February 20, 1845 and died on February 7, 1910. Robert Wood Johnson was born in 1845.