Barbara Piasecka Johnson

Barbara "Basia" Piasecka Johnson (born Barbara Piasecka; February 25, 1937 – April 1, 2013) was a Polish humanitarian, philanthropist, art connoisseur and collector.

Early life Piasecka Johnson was born in Staniewicze near Grodno, Poland (now in Belarus). Her father was a farmer. She graduated from Wroclaw University with a M.A. in Art History. She left Poland in 1968, with $100 in her possession.

Career Piasecka was hired as a cook by Esther Underwood Johnson, then wife of John Seward Johnson I. She then worked as the Johnsons' chambermaid. One time seeing his admiration for one of the paintings he had bought, she said casually that he overpaid for it because it is not a picture of a master, but his disciple and by using the dates proved it. Johnson was shocked about her knowledge and expertise, and appointed her as consultant to his purchases of works of art. A year after she became Johnson's chambermaid, she became his curator for the Seward Johnson's art collection.

Personal life During this time John Seward Johnson engaged in extramarital affairs with Piasecka Johnson. In 1971, he had divorced his second wife, Esther "Essie" Underwood Johnson, (who had hired Piasecka), and they married. He was 76 and she was 34. None of Johnson's children were invited to the wedding. Trial witnesses brought to court by J. S. Johnson's children during the proceedings concerning his will asserted that Piasecka Johnson "often physically and emotionally abused her husband". Piasecka Johnson said she was a devoted wife for 12 years of marriage. She was the primary beneficiary of his will and received the bulk of her husband's fortune of $400 million after he died in 1983 ($1.29 billion as of 2025). Excluded from their father's will, Seward Johnson's six children sued on grounds that their father was not 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, 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…Citește mai mult

Johnson v. Johnson (1988, ISBN 0-440-20041-5) Undue Influence: The Epic Battle for the Johnson & Johnson Fortune (1993, ISBN 0-688-06425-6)