Business Magnate. Johnson was said to be the richest man in Wisconsin according to Forbes Magazine who estimated his wealth at $7.5 billion. He was the fourth generation to head the 118-year-old former Johnson Wax Company now known as SC Johnson. His vision turned it into four global companies employing more than 28,000 people. Under his leadership, annual sales rose from about $171 million to about $6 billion. Although he retired in 2000, the company now generates more than $8 billion in annual sales and operates in more than 70 countries. A founding member of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, he advised world leaders at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Recently, Johnson alligned himself with a coalition of environmental, business and religious groups to oppose a plan to build two coal-fired power plants in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. A native of Racine, Wisconsin, Johnson earned degrees from Cornell University and Harvard Business School and spent two years as an Air Force intelligence officer. The Johnson Graduate School of Cornell is named for the family. Cause of death: cancer (bio by: Fred Beisser)  Family links:  Parents:  Herbert Fisk Johnson (1899 – 1978)  Esther Jane Tilton Johnson (1904 – 1938)  Sibling:  Karen Andrea Johnson Boyd (1924 – 2016)**  Samuel Curtis Johnson (1928 – 2004) *Calculated relationship**Half-sibling