George E. Johnson, a hair-care magnate who rose from a sharecropper’s cabin to the executive suite of what was said to be the first Black-owned company listed on a major American stock exchange, and who made a fortune on products like Ultra Sheen and Afro Sheen, died on Monday at his home in Chicago. He was 99.
His death was confirmed by his wife, Madeline Murphy Rabb, who said the cause was respiratory illness.
At a time before skyrocketing pay for sports figures, entertainers and Fortune 500 executives, the Johnson Products Company, which sold Black hair products and cosmetics, made Mr. Johnson, its founder, among the nation’s wealthiest African Americans. And his company indirectly influenced pop culture through its longtime sponsorship of the nationally syndicated television dance show “Soul Train.”
He also helped found one of the first, and largest, Black-owned banks, the Independence Bank of Chicago, of which he served as chairman until it was sold in 1995.
A complete obituary will be published shortly.
Robert D. Hershey Jr., a longtime reporter for The Times who wrote about finance and economics, died in 2024.
Ash Wu contributed reporting.
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