Woody Johnson Robert Wood " Woody " Johnson IV ( born April 12 , 1947 ) is an American businessman and philanthropist . He is a great - grandson of Robert Wood Johnson I ( co - founder of Johnson & Johnson ) , and the owner of the New York Jets of the National Football League . Early life . Johnson was born in New Brunswick , New Jersey . His father was Robert Wood Johnson III , president of Johnson & Johnson for four years , and his mother was Betty Wold Johnson . Johnson grew up with four siblings : Keith Johnson , Billy Johnson , Elizabeth " Libet " Johnson , and Christopher Wold Johnson . He graduated from Millbrook School and the University of Arizona . Career . Johnson became involved in charitable organizations full time in the 1980s . He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations . His family has been affected by both lupus and juvenile diabetes , which motivated Mr . Johnson to take a role in raising funds to prevent , treat , and cure autoimmune diseases . He has led efforts on Capitol Hill and at the National Institutes of Health to increase research funding for lupus , diabetes , and other autoimmune diseases . and personally contributed to causes related to diabetes , after his daughter Casey was diagnosed with the disease . He also started a research foundation , the Alliance for Lupus Research , after his daughter Jaime was found to have lupus . On January 18 , 2000 , Johnson purchased the NY Jets for $ 635 million , the third - highest price for a professional sports team and the most for one in New York . Johnson , who also owns courtside seats to the New York Knicks , outbid the $ 612 million offered by Charles F . Dolan , the chairman of Cablevision , which owns Madison Square Garden , the Knicks and the Rangers . The price seemed high for a team with a recent history of game losses , and which finished with a 1 - 15 record in 1996 . The team sold for more than $ 100 million above what some sports finance analysts had expected . Based on the Jets ' recent financial performance and the team ' s low - revenue lease at Giants Stadium , the analysts said the team was really worth about $ 250 million . After buying the Jets , Johnson announced plans to move them to the proposed West Side Stadium in Manhattan . However , after the project ' s defeat in 2005 , Johnson announced the Jets would move to a new Meadowlands Stadium ( opening day 10 April 2010 ) co - owned with the Giants . Johnson served on the NFL Commissioner search committee in which a list of 185 candidates to succeed Paul Tagliabue was narrowed down to the final choice of Roger Goodell . Johnson is the Chairman and Chief Executive of the Johnson Company , Inc . , a private investment firm founded in 1978 . In August 2006 , Johnson was asked to testify before a Senate panel about his participation in a sham tax shelter . A Senate report said that Johnson , along with a few others , were able to buy , for relatively small fees , roughly $ 2 billion in capital losses that they used to erase taxable gains they garnered from stock sales . The U . S . Treasury lost an estimated $ 300 million in revenue as a result . In a statement , Johnson said he had been advised by his lawyers in 2000 that the transaction " was consistent with the Tax Code . " But after the Internal Revenue Service challenged that view in 2003 , Johnson this year " settled with the IRS and agreed to pay 100 percent of the tax due plus interest . " He was the committee president for Pre - Commissioning Unit for the USS New York ( LPD - 21 ) . Personal life . In 1977 , Johnson married former fashion model Nancy Sale Johnson . They had three children : Casey , Jaime , and Daisy , before divorcing in 2001 . In early 2010 , Casey died of diabetic ketoacidosis . In 2009 , Johnson married Suzanne Ircha Johnson , a former actress and Equities Managing Director at Sandler O ' Neill & Partners . They have two children : Robert Wood Johnson V and Jack Wood Johnson . Johnson has homes in Bedminster Township , New Jersey and New York . Politics . Johnson has personally given more than $ 1 million to Republican candidates and committees to date ( 2010 ) . In May 2008 , he orchestrated a fundraiser in New York City that brought in $ 7 million in a single evening for John McCain , by far the largest amount collected up to that point by a campaign that had been struggling to raise money . Johnson also provided significant funding to the Republican National Convention of 2008 in Minneapolis - St . Paul convention host committee ; from a $ 10 million shortfall , Johnson contributed personally and solicited friends to assist in covering the convention deficit . In 2011 , Woody Johnson announced that he would endorse former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney for the 2012 U . S . Presidential Election .