Heritage

Not all companies have a Chief Historian. Then again, not all companies have such a long, rich heritage of innovation. Margaret Gurowitz explains the highlights—and delights—of her unique job.

As Memorial Day approaches, we’re honoring the life of the famous poet and service member, known for his iconic “Trees” poem, who was the son of the company’s first Scientific Director—and a writer for Johnson & Johnson.

With college basketball tournaments in full swing, we’re passing on company hoops history that dates back more than a century.

The largest healthcare company in the world began as a simple partnership among three forward-thinking siblings. We explore the lasting impact James, Edward Mead and Robert Johnson, the company’s first president, had on Johnson & Johnson.

The brother of Johnson & Johnson cofounders Robert Wood Johnson and James Wood Johnson, Edward Mead Johnson led the company’s sales and marketing division in the 19^th century. In 1898, Edward Mead left Johnson & Johnson, taking with him the company’s digestive products line, a business that would eventually become a leading global company in the field of infant and child nutrition.

Learn more about this Johnson & Johnson cofounder.

Born in 1845, Robert Wood Johnson I is best known for his pioneering innovations in sterile surgery and sanitary wound care. The company’s future-oriented focus, acceptance of women in professional roles and management for the long-term also have their origins with Johnson, whose founding ideals would later find expression in Our Credo, written by his son Robert Wood Johnson II.

What helps set Johnson & Johnson apart? One legendary document written in 1943. As Our Credo celebrates its 75th anniversary, Gorsky sat down with author and Wharton professor Adam Grant to delve into the past, present and future of the company’s guiding belief statement.

Johnson & Johnson has been instrumental in helping bring us closer to a TB-free world through its groundbreaking work with multidrug-resistant TB.

In honor of the World Health Organization’s Save Lives: Clean Your Hands campaign, we look at how the company helped usher in the concept of sterile surgery at a time when physicians weren’t even in the habit of scrubbing in.