Richard Beverland Sellars (September 9, 1915 – June 25, 2010) was an American business executive who served as chairman and 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 ...

as part of 40 years with the healthcare product firm. Sellars played a pivotal role in keeping the company's headquarters in

New Brunswick, New Jersey New Brunswick is a city (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Massachusetts, second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the list of United States cities by population, 113th most populous city in the United States. Named after Worcester ...

. He attended

American International College American International College (AIC) is a private university in Springfield, Massachusetts. History American International College was originally established on July 18, 1885 by Calvin E. Amaron who sought to create an institution of higher ...

and

Maryville College Maryville College is a Private college, private liberal arts college in Maryville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1819 by Presbyterian minister Isaac L. Anderson for the purpose of furthering education and enlightenment into the West. The colleg ...

, but did not graduate from either school.Abelson, Reed
"Richard B. Sellars, Former Chief of Johnson & Johnson, Dies at 94"
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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 ...

'', June 26, 2010. In 1939, Johnson & Johnson hired Sellars as a salesman in its

Ortho Pharmaceutical Ortho Pharmaceutical was initially formed in the United States in 1931 as a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson to market the first medical prescription, prescription spermicide, spermicidal contraceptive jelly, ''Ortho-Gynol''. History In the 194 ...

business unit. He worked his way up and became Ortho's vice president by 1948. He was shifted to J&J's

Ethicon Inc. Ethicon, Inc., is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. The company is part of the Johnson & Johnson MedTech business segment. It was incorporated as a separate company under the Johnson & Johnson umbrella in 1949 to expand and diversify the Johnso ...

unit and became its president in December 1949, succeeding

Philip B. Hofmann Philip B. Hofmann (May 25, 1909 – December 29, 1986) was an American businessman. He was the first non-family-member to serve as chairman and chief executive officer of the healthcare firm Johnson & Johnson. Biography Philip Hofmann was born ...

. In April 1970, he became president of Johnson & Johnson Worldwide.Bender, Marylin
"Blacks Snubbed in Business; Blacks Hit Job Changes: Business Johnson & Johnson Fills Position"
''

'', April 19, 1970. Accessed June 27, 2010. He became Johnson & Johnson's chairman of the board and chief executive officer in 1973, becoming the second person from outside the Johnson family to lead the firm. Sellars convinced the firm's board to remain in the urban confines of New Brunswick, rather than move to the suburbs, and worked as part of the New Brunswick Development Corporation to help revitalize the city. He helped bring in

I. M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...

to redesign New Brunswick's downtown area. With headquarters in New Brunswick, he felt the firm had an obligation to the city and "the survival of our country depends on the survival of its cities, so we'd all better get involved in cleaning them up." J&J announced that Sellars would step down as CEO as of November 1, 1976, and be replaced by James E. Burke. After stepping down as CEO, he served on the board's finance committee until 1979. From 1981 to 1996, he served as a trustee 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, ...

, the largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care in the United States. He worked closely with

Robert Wood Johnson II Robert Wood "General" Johnson II (April 4, 1893 – January 30, 1968) was an American businessman. He was one of the sons of Robert Wood Johnson I, the co-founder of Johnson & Johnson. He turned the family business into one of the world's ...

, who established the foundation, in shaping its goals and objectives.Staff
"Richard B. Sellars, Former Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, Dies at 94"

PR Newswire PR Newswire is a distributor of press releases headquartered in Chicago. The service was created in 1954 to allow companies to electronically send press releases to news organizations, using teleprinters at first. The founder, Herbert Muschel, ...

, June 25, 2010. Accessed June 27, 2010. Sellars died at age 94 at his home in

Osterville, Massachusetts Osterville is one of seven villages within the town of Barnstable, Massachusetts, United States. The village of Osterville is located on the south side of Barnstable on Nantucket Sound. Osterville is a residential community that includes marshes, ...

, on June 25, 2010. He was survived by his wife, the former Doris Sophia Johnson (no relation to the company's founders), and two daughters, two sons, 9 grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren. He and his wife had lived in

Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey Peapack-Gladstone (also written as Peapack and Gladstone) is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in the Somerset Hills region of northern Somerset County, New Jersey, Somerset County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States cen ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sellars, Richard B. American International College alumni Businesspeople from New Jersey Maryville College alumni People from Osterville, Massachusetts People from Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey Businesspeople from Worcester, Massachusetts 1915 births 2010 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople