June 18, 2013

News Summary: Ex-Johnson & Johnson CEO Burke dies

BY: AP Staff Writer OCTOBER 1, 2012 | MODIFIED: OCTOBER 1, 2012 AT 2:31 PM
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Photo -   In an Aug. 9, 2000 photo provided by Johnson & Johnson, President Bill Clinton, right, awards former Johnson & Johnson CEO James E. Burke the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in Washington. Burke, who helped the company expand dramatically around the world and steered it through the Tylenol poisonings in the 1980s, died on Friday, Sept. 28. He was 87. (AP Photo/PR Newsfoto, Camera1 NYC)
In an Aug. 9, 2000 photo provided by Johnson & Johnson, President Bill Clinton, right, awards former Johnson & Johnson CEO James E. Burke the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in Washington. Burke, who helped the company expand dramatically around the world and steered it through the Tylenol poisonings in the 1980s, died on Friday, Sept. 28. He was 87. (AP Photo/PR Newsfoto, Camera1 NYC)

LEADER DIES: James E. Burke, who as CEO steered Johnson & Johnson through the Tylenol poisonings that led to the first tamper-resistant packaging, died at 87 after a long illness.

AT THE HELM: Burke ran J&J for 13 years, including during the 1982 crisis when seven Chicago-area people died after taking Tylenol capsules that were laced with cyanide in a still-unsolved case. Burke recalled 32 million bottles of Tylenol to protect the public, then had the company develop sealed packaging before reintroducing Tylenol.

SECOND CAREER: Burke built the Partnership for a Drug-Free America into a powerful force fighting drug abuse.

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