Ralph S. Larsen (November 18, 1938 – March 9, 2016) was an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of
Johnson & Johnson
Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is an American multinational pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a c ...
from 1989 to 2002.The Wall Street Journal biography /ref> /ref>
Early life and education
Ralph Larsen was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
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 countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'', October 30, 1988 He joined the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...
for a few years. He worked his way through college, taking electrical jobs, and he received a
Bachelor of Business Administration
A Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is an undergraduate degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of four years and typically 120 credits of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of busine ...
from
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a Private university, private research university in Hempstead, New York, United States. It originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University and became an independent college in 1939. Comprising ten schools, includ ...
in 1962.BusinessWeek /ref>
Career
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 (acetaminophen), a medication used to treat pain and fever
* Tylenol (brand), an American brand of drugs containing paracetamol
* Chicago Tylenol murders
The Chicago Tylenol murders were a series of poisoning d ...
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 (BD; also Becton Dickinson or Becton) is an American multinational medical technology company that manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems, and reagents. BD also provides consulting and analytic ...
. 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) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston.
Over the year ...
and
AT&T
AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...
. In 1998–2000 he was on the board of
Xerox
Xerox Holdings Corporation (, ) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox was the pioneer of the photocopier market, beginning with the introduc ...
. 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 City. It was one of the five largest investment banking enterprises in the United States and a very profitable firm on Wall Street du ...
. From 1999 to 2000 he was chairman of
The Business Council
The Business Council is a nonpartisan organization of business leaders headquartered in Washington, D.C.
In 1998 dozens of federal agents raided the headquarters of Johnson & Johnson's
LifeScan
LifeScan, Inc. is a diagnostic systems manufacturer with products focusing on the diabetes market, specifically blood glucose monitoring systems.
History
LifeScan was established in 1981. It was acquired by Johnson & Johnson (J&J) in 1986, and i ...
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 respo ...
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.nndb /ref> He was a fellow of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) 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, and other ...
. 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 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 19,115, down from 19,539 at the 2010 census. Naples is a principal city of the Collier County, Florida, Naples–Marc ...