Betty

The Betty Wold Johnson Foundation operates as the legacy of Betty Wold Johnson (1921-2020), matriarch of the Johnson family and a renowned philanthropist focused on contributions to the arts, education, and healthcare. Established in 2021, the Betty Wold Johnson Foundation has assets of approximately $1 billion. It is governed by Betty’s sons, Ambassador Robert Wood Johnson IV, who previously served as the United States Ambassador to Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Christopher Johnson, the Vice Chairman of the New York Jets.

Betty, as she liked to be called, died peacefully on May 5, 2020. A native Minnesotan, Betty’s commitment to service began as a young woman when she enlisted in the Navy’s WAVE (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) after the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II. She helped train fighter pilots in simulators at Rhode Island’s Naval Air Station. It was also during this time that Betty met and married Robert Wood Johnson III, grandson of Johnson & Johnson founder Robert Wood Johnson. Together, they had five children and were married until his death in 1970 at age 50.

Celebrated as one of her generation’s greatest philanthropists, Betty’s giving focused primarily on the New York and New Jersey area where she and her family lived. The long list of institutions she supported included: the McCarter Theatre, the Nature Conservancy of New Jersey, the Liberty Science Center, the Arts Council of Princeton, the Princeton Public Library, the New York City Opera, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. In 2008, she donated $11 million to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the single largest individual gift in the Newark Arts Center's history. Betty was drawn to the arts because of its power to, as she put it, "feed the spirit." The daughter of a physician and steward of the Johnson family legacy, she understood the necessity for strong public health. Therefore, she gave to many health organizations, notably the rebuilding of Princeton Hospital. Her support for Project Renewal, an organization focused on aid to New York’s homeless population, provided mobile health services to those in need.

Philanthropy was her profession and her calling. A curious and intelligent woman, Betty wanted to know what else could be done. If one project finished, another could begin. She encouraged organizations to build endowments to ensure their missions could continue for generations. And unlike so many others, Betty preferred her philanthropy to be anonymous. She focused her support on indirect costs and operational needs, funding critical to an institution’s success but too often overlooked by other philanthropists. She funded the nursing school at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Most philanthropists would want their name out in front, but not Betty. Nevertheless, the school’s administrators insisted her generosity be recognized alongside her humility. And so, down in the basement, where few would visit but those who work to keep the building running, is a small plaque that reads "Betty's Boiler Room".

Betty turned 99 on January 31, 2020. She was said to have had one wish. "I better live a long time because there's so much to do”.