Hundreds of people have gathered for the funeral ceremonies for Barbara Piasecka Johnson, a Pole who worked as a maid for an American heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune before marrying him and eventually inheriting much of his wealth.
Johnson, an art collector and philanthropist, died April 1 near Wroclaw, in southwestern Poland, where she lived and studied art history before moving to the United States in 1968. She is to be buried in the city on Monday.
This farmer’s daughter found a job as a cook then chambermaid for J. Seward Johnson. In 1971 she became his third wife. After his death in 1983 she inherited some $300 million from a fortune of over $500 million, following an ugly legal battle with his children.
Jack Kanthal, APBarbara Piasecka Johnson poses at her estate in Princeton, N.J., Wednesday, June 4, 1986.
It’s a classic story: Aging wealthy man meets younger woman. They fall in love (or some variation thereof), get married (or at least cohabitate) until he dies (or she gets greedy) and then, a legal battle begins. The two principals, or some of their relatives, hire a passel of lawyers, file mountains of depositions, and pay vast sums to lawyers before reaching some sort of settlement.
And though it’s a tale oft told, it remains endlessly fascinating as it’s replayed, every year or two, with a fresh cast and a new set of headlines. Even years after the events, in the most notorious cases, the principals retain the kind of fame that is so powerful that it doesn’t even require a last name. Kimora Lee. Anna-Nicole. Ivana.
And Barbara.
Barbara Piasecka Johnson was the first contemporary version of the story, the one who arrived on the scene just when celebrity culture was ramping up, fueled by an explosion in mass media and a fascination with the lifestyles of the rich and famous. She was the prototypical rags-to-riches girl, a Polish woman who arrived in New York City in 1968 with $200 in her pocket. Before long, she was working as a cook and maid for the Johnson family, of Johnson & Johnson fame. And it wasn’t too long after that before she was winning the heart of J. Seward Johnson Sr., heir to the makers of Band-Aids.
The pair were married in 1971, and remained so until J. Seward’s death in 1983. And that’s when the probate battle began. Barbara was in line to receive the bulk of Johnson’s estate, valued at $500 million. Johnson’s children disagreed. What followed was a three-year legal battle complete with all the trimmings: character assassinations aimed at Barbara Johnson, claims of abuse, counter-claims of loving care in Johnson’s final days, counter-counter claims of gold digging, on and on, ad nauseum.
As a side-note, you may recognize the last name of Nina Zagat, the lawyer who wrote J. Seward Johnson‘s will. She and her husband later went on to found a now-famous restaurant rating system.
Ultimately, with the lawyers fed (to the tune of $24 million) and the newspapers filled, all parties reached an agreement that left Barbara Johnson with $350 million, her in-laws with $40 million, and an oceanographic institute that J. Seward Johnson had founded with $20 million. Barbara Johnson faded from the scene, moving to Europe, where she invested in art and spent millions of dollars on charitable causes.
But while Barbara Johnson‘s tale faded from the public consciousness, the trail that it blazed continues to be well-traveled, pouring fodder into the celebrity press — while feeding endless fears of probate battles, worries about wills, and a …read more
By Mark RussellIt was one of the great American immigrant success stories—a young Polish woman comes to America with shaky English and $200 in her pocket, takes a job as a maid … and marries her way into a $500 million fortune. But not only did Barbara Piasecka Johnson strike it rich,… …read more
The family of Barbara Piasecka Johnson, a Polish farmer’s daughter who worked as a maid for an American heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune before marrying him and eventually inheriting much of his wealth, says she has died. She was 76.
The family announced Johnson’s death Thursday in Rzeczpospolita, a daily paper. It said she died Monday “after a long and serious illness.” It didn’t give any further details about her illness or place of death but said that she will be buried April 15 in Wroclaw, the southwestern Polish city where she grew up.
Johnson became embroiled in a nasty feud over the Johnson & Johnson fortune after her husband, J. Seward Johnson Sr., died in 1983. She prevailed over his six children, getting much of the money.
