Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1938, Ralph S. Larsen spent a few years in the United States Navy, and then worked his way through college. He was granted a BA in Business Administration from Hofstra University in 1962, and then joined Johnson & Johnson, a manufacturer of healthcare products. In 1981 he left Johnson & Johnson and went to work for Becton Dickinson as president of consumer products until 1983, when he rejoined Johnson & Johnson. At J&J he became president of Chicopee until 1986. Larsen served as Vice Chairman of the corporation until 1989, and then served as CEO from 1989 until 2002. Larsen succeeded in lowering operating costs to $2 billion, helping to make J&J more competitive. Larsen also orchestrated a number of consecutive shareholder return rates of an impressive 25%.
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