As CEO, Ralph Larsen helped J& J grow globally
Ralph Larsen, the former chief executive at Johnson & Johnson whose strategy of growth through acquisitions propelled the company to become America’s fourthlargest maker of prescription drugs and the world’s biggest provider of medical supplies by the time he stepped down in 2002, has died. He was 77.
He died Wednesday at his home in Naples, Fla., according to an emailed statement from his family. The cause was cardiac arrest.
During Larsen’s 13-year tenure as CEO, New Jersey-based J&J spent US$21.7 billion to acquire more than 40 companies, building an enterprise that sold products as diverse as Band-Aid bandages, hip implants and drugs. He also reduced operating costs by US$2 billion from 1994 to 1999, enabling J&J to compete more aggressively in the personal care market, according to his profile on Harvard Business School’s website. J&J’s market value was US$196.9 billion when he retired, up from US$14.7 billion in 1989.
“Ralph Larsen had a clear vision for the future of Johnson & Johnson, and he was a tremendous steward of our credo and values,” Alex Gorsky, J&J’s current CEO said Thursday. “During his tenure he oversaw a period of significant growth and global expansion that has helped to shape the company as we know it today.”
Major deals he oversaw included acquiring Neutrogena Corp., a skin-care products company, in 1994; DePuy Inc., an orthopedic products company, in 1998; and Centocor Inc., maker of the Remicade arthritis drug, in 1999. Today, J&J is the world’s largest maker of health-care products.
Ralph Stanley Larsen was born Nov. 19, 1938, in Brooklyn, New York. His parents were first-generation immigrants from Norway.
Larsen served in the U.S. Navy for two years starting in 1956, then studied business administration at Hofstra University in Hempstead, N.Y. Upon graduating, he went to work at J&J as a manufacturing trainee and then ascended the ranks. He quit J&J in 1981, returned in 1983 and won the CEO job in 1989.