Imogene Power Johnson obit

Billionaire Imogene Powers Johnson, Heir To Cleaning Products Empire, Dies At 87

She was not on the list.

Imogene Powers Johnson, the billionaire widow of SC Johnson CEO Samuel C. Johnson and a longtime philanthropist, died over the weekend. She was 87.

Johnson, whose husband ran the family's cleaning products business for more than three decades, had encountered several health issues in recent months, according to a statement from her son Herbert Fisk Johnson. He called her a "fighter" who approached her deteriorating health "with incredible grace and tenacity" in a Facebook post.

"Mom has been at the heart of the company for generations and was always the quiet advisor to my dad, me, Helen, Curt, and Win," wrote Johnson, who is now chairman and CEO. "She was the pillar in our family."

Johnson, who was known as Gene by friends and family, was worth an estimated $3.7 billion at the time of her death. She met her husband Samuel at Cornell University in 1948 where she was a mathematics major. After graduation, she went on to work as an engineering mathematician at Ryan Aeronautical in San Diego. She learned computer programming and worked on the first aircraft that was capable of a vertical take-off, according to her son.

In 1954, Imogene and Samuel were married and moved to Racine, Wisconsin, where SC Johnson was based. There she turned her attention to her family and philanthropy. In 1965, she co-founded a private college preparatory school called The Prairie School, which originally catered to children of SC Johnson workers. She also had an avid interest in birds and other wildlife and sat on the board of organizations including The Imogene Powers Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity at Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology and the River Bend Nature Center.

Her husband ran SC Johnson, which makes Windex, Pledge and Off, from 1966 to 2000. He died in 2004. The privately-held company, which was founded in 1886, is now run by the fifth generation of the Johnson family. It pulls in revenues that are estimated to be approximately $10 billion a year.

Imogene is survived by her four children -- Helen, Fisk, Winnie and Curt -- who are also each billionaires based on their stakes in the company. Together, they are estimated to own about half of SC Johnson.