The Johnson family legacy

The gift that transformed a school

In 1982, the then Graduate School of Business and Public Administration sharpened its focus, voting to eliminate all non-business programs. But carrying out this new mission in a competitive landscape required additional resources. Two years later, a $20 million endowment from the Johnson family — then the largest ever to a business school — established the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.

The school is named for Samuel Curtis Johnson (1833–1919), who began manufacturing wooden parquet floors in Racine, Wisconsin. In 1886, he expanded into floor wax to maintain them; those products quickly outpaced flooring sales, giving rise to the global firm S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc.

Samuel C. Johnson, AB ’50, led his family’s historic gift naming Cornell’s graduate business school for his great-grandfather. In a 1988 company history, he wrote that businesses should give back — to their communities and to the consumers who make their success possible — because providing jobs alone “is simply not enough.”

After decades of service and generosity to Cornell, Johnson passed away in 2004 at his home in Racine, Wisconsin. Though the school bears his great-grandfather’s name, Sam Johnson embodied the leadership it seeks to cultivate. When he took over S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. in 1966, annual sales were about $171 million; today, Johnson Family Enterprises generate more than $11 billion annually.

A legendary leader, Sam Johnson was widely recognized for making the business world a better place. He was a founding member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, and was appointed by President Clinton to the U.S. President’s Council on Sustainable Development in 1993. He received a Lifetime Environmental Award from the United Nations Environmental Programme and was inducted into the U.S. National Business Hall of Fame.

At Johnson, Sam’s legacy endures. He and the Johnson family are an integral part of our identity; their values and ideas shaped many of the programs and initiatives that helped transform the school, from three endowed professorships, to the $7.5 million to support Johnson’s program in sustainable business.

Sam’s spirit also lives on in Sage Hall, the beautiful building that he helped transform as the new home for Johnson, and we remember Sam’s generosity not only in terms of financial support, but also his many visits, thoughtful guidance and deep and abiding friendship. As emeritus Johnson Dean Robert Swieringa put it, “As the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management, we are linked with Sam not only by his name, but also by his aspirations. We carry his legacy with pride.”

Sustainability and MBA education

In 2003, Samuel C. Johnson, then chairman emeritus of S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc., demonstrated his commitment to global sustainable business, when he donated $2.5 million to establish the S. C. Johnson Professorship in Sustainable Global Enterprise.

His challenge: for the Johnson to create a resource to harness market principles to solve the world’s toughest social and environmental problems.

The school hired Stuart Hart to fill the chair and direct the then nascent Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise. With an additional gift of $5 million from the Johnson family in 2004 and 2005, the center continues to expand its faculty, staff, and programs.

Today’s Johnson family and the school

The Johnson family continues to support the school through service and by example, with a deep commitment to sustainable business that keeps company leaders regularly engaged on campus.

H. Fisk Johnson ’79, MEng ’80, MS ’82, MBA ’84, PhD ’86, chairman and CEO of S. C. Johnson & Son, Inc. and son of Sam Johnson, serves on the Johnson Advisory Council. Helen Johnson-Leipold ’78, chairman and CEO of Johnson Outdoors and chairman of Johnson Financial Group, frequently returns to campus to share her expertise, including keynote remarks at the Entrepreneurship@Cornell Celebration and representing the family at the 20th anniversary of their landmark endowment gift.