Barbara Piasecka Johnson
Barbara "Basia" Piasecka Johnson (born as Barbara Piasecka on February 25, 1937 in Poland) is a humanitarian, philanthropist, art connoisseur and collector.
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[edit] Early life
Piasecka Johnson was born in Poland. Her father was a farmer.[1][2] She graduated from Wroclaw University with a M.A. in Art History. She left Poland in 1968, with just $100.[3]
[edit] Career
Piasecka Johnson was hired as a cook by Esther Underwood Johnson, then wife of John Seward Johnson I. Her cooking was terrible though, so she switched jobs with the Johnsons' chambermaid.[4][5]
A year later, Piasecka Johnson was a curator for Seward Johnson's art collection.[6]
[edit] Personal life
During J. Seward Johnson's thirty-two year marriage, he engaged in extramarital affairs with Piasecka Johnson. In 1971, they married with none of Johnson's children in attendance. According to witnesses brought to court by Johnson's children during the proceedings concerning his will, Piasecka Johnson often physically and emotionally abused her husband.[7][8][9] She was the primary beneficiary of his will and received the bulk of her husband's fortune after he died in 1983. Excluded from their father's will, Seward Johnson's six children sued on grounds that their father wasn't mentally competent at the time he signed the will. The case went to trial but was settled prior to return of a verdict, and the children were granted about 12% of the fortune,[10] leaving Piasecka Johnson in control of the majority of the estate.
In 2007, Johnson was listed on the Forbes 400 World's Richest People list with an estimated net worth of $2.7 billion, making her the 149th richest person.[11] She converted the family estate in Princeton, New Jersey, named Jasna Polana, into a country club and moved to Monte Carlo, Monaco.
Johnson is involved in a number of charitable projects, especially in her native Poland.[12]
[edit] See also
- Johnson v. Johnson (1988, ISBN 0440200415)
- Undue Influence: The Epic Battle for the Johnson & Johnson Fortune (1993, ISBN 0688064256)
[edit] References
- ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A00EFDC173EF933A25757C0A9639C8B63
- ^ http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23795269-casey-johnson---death-of-a-gossip-girl.do
- ^ http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20093724,00.html
- ^ [1] Pp. 158.
- ^ http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20093724,00.html
- ^ [2] Pp. 158.
- ^ http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20093724,00.html
- ^ [3] Pp. 2A.
- ^ [4] Pp. 233.
- ^ http://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/04/obituaries/mary-lea-johnson-richards-63-founder-of-production-company.html?scp=15&sq=seward%20johnson&st=cse
- ^ The Forbes 400: Richest Americans Abroad
- ^ Barbara Piasecka Johnson Foundation (in Polish)
