Samuel Curtis Johnson Sr.


Samuel Curtis Johnson was an American businessman. He founded S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. of Racine, Wisconsin.

Life

Samuel Curtis Johnson Sr. was the son of Phineas Miller Johnson and Orra Ann Collins. In 1882, he moved to Racine where he became a parquet flooring salesman for the Racine Hardware Manufacturing Co. In 1886, he purchased the flooring business from the company and renamed it Johnson's Prepared Paste Wax Company. A few years later he established his own factory for manufacturing floor waxes and wood finishes. When his son, Herbert Fisk Johnson Sr. became a partner in 1906, the firm was renamed S. C. Johnson & Son.

Legacy

SC Johnson remains privately held by the Johnson family today, and operates in more than 70 countries, employs 12,000 people, and provides products in more than 110 countries around the world. The Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York is named in his honor.