Richard B. Sellars | Former J&J chief, 94
Richard B. Sellars, 94, a former chairman and chief executive officer of Johnson & Johnson who resisted abandoning the company's hometown in New Jersey and then helped revitalize its downtown, died Friday at his home in Osterville, Mass.
Richard B. Sellars, 94, a former chairman and chief executive officer of Johnson & Johnson who resisted abandoning the company's hometown in New Jersey and then helped revitalize its downtown, died Friday at his home in Osterville, Mass.
Joining the company in 1939 as a junior salesman for its new Ortho Pharmaceutical division, Mr. Sellars worked for Johnson & Johnson for 40 years. He became the company's chairman and chief executive in 1973, the second person from outside of the founding Johnson family to head the health-care conglomerate.
He is credited with persuading Johnson & Johnson to keep its headquarters in New Brunswick, N.J., despite the city's decline. Although the company was founded in the city, in 1886, some executives had discussed relocating.
He became active in developing plans to revitalize the city's downtown. He was chairman of the New Brunswick Development Corp., a tax-exempt organization, and helped recruit the architecture firm of I.M. Pei to redesign the business district. The same firm would later design the Johnson & Johnson corporate headquarters building.
- N.Y. Times News Service