The following was written by members of the Plainsboro Historical Society, c. 2003:

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation was founded in 1936 as a small local organization in New Brunswick by General Robert Wood Johnson. In 1972, after becoming a national philanthropy in accordance with General Johnson’s will, the foundation moved to Plainsboro and today has 122 employees. They are located on approximately 80 acres in the Princeton Forrestal Center at College Road and Route 1.

The foundation is the largest philanthropy in the United States devoted to health care and is the largest foundation based in New Jersey. Today, the foundation has assets of more than $3 billion with three broad areas of grant giving: to assure that Americans of all ages have access to basic health care; to improve the way services are organized and provided to people with chronic health conditions; and to promote health and prevent disease by reducing harm caused by substance abuse.

General Johnson, who died in 1968, served from the 1930s to the early 1960s as Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson, which was founded by his father and uncle. However, the foundation is a private, independent philanthropy and is not connected with the corporation.