John Colgate Passes Away

William Colgate founded a small soap and candle business in New York City early in the 19th century that has since blossomed into an international company with hundreds of millions of consumers around the world.

The Company operates in Oral, Personal and Home Care; as well as Pet Nutrition. Its key brands include Colgate toothpaste, whitening toothpastes, manual toothbrushes and dental pharmaceuticals.

Early Life and Education

John Colgate was born to Greek immigrants, and as a result grew up in Sands Point, New York where he attended public schools until graduating from Mohawk College and Colgate University.

After graduating from Colgate, he began working for his father’s soap and candle business in Jersey City, New Jersey. He remained with the company throughout his career and eventually rose to become one of its most successful leaders.

Since 2009, he has served as director of sustainability at Colgate University. Under his guidance, the school’s campus carbon footprint was reduced by 46 percent and they aim to achieve carbon neutrality by 2019.

Professional Career

John has spent a lifetime in business and law, learning the importance of cultivating an atmosphere of collaboration, teamwork and global leadership. At Barclay Damon he created and directed their successful lateral partner program which has seen high retention rates among partners who expand their practices and progress to leadership positions.

Colgate’s success is built upon a robust, sustainable competitive advantage: its capacity to identify big business opportunities early and bring them to market globally. This has increasingly translated into winning market shares in new product categories across multiple or all geographic regions.

At Colgate, people bring together their expertise to share proprietary know-how and collaborate in multi-country teams for product development, manufacture and distribution. With increasingly efficient global supply chain practices, these efforts provide savings that can be reinvested back into growing the business and improving profitability.

Achievements and Honors

Colgate people around the globe pool their proprietary expertise and collaborate in multi-country teams to design, manufacture and distribute products that satisfy customers’ needs. This results in profitable growth for Colgate as well as significant shareholder value creation.

No matter where they work – in the United States, Mexico or China – Colgate people consistently instill core values that encourage their colleagues to achieve the best performance. This helps the company remain at the top of its industry and has earned them customer trust across the world.

Colgate’s global success is built upon the strength of its people. With more than 38,000 dedicated employees spanning all major geographies, Colgate can exchange unique cultures and market expertise with ease.

Personal Life

John Colgate was a loving husband, father and grandfather who loved his family – especially his 13 grandchildren whom he adored and played with often. John also enjoyed many hobbies such as golfing and gardening with his friends.

He was a man of faith and led the Missions Committee at Faith Baptist Tabernacle Church in Sherburne. A passionate student of God’s Word, his children followed in his footsteps as Christian parents.

John’s family included many Colgate alumni, all of whom graduated from the College. John was an incredible supporter of Colgate and its alumni, with which the College is immensely proud. Additionally, he served as a trustee for several years.

Net Worth

Despite the recession, most Members of Congress saw their net worth decline only slightly. Unfortunately, the slow economy has taken its toll on many lawmakers’ real estate holdings and stocks.

Thankfully, some Members managed to remain on the 50 Richest list. In fact, some even rose a notch or two.

The Kansas City lawmaker’s wealth is generated from a variety of stocks and investments. He and his wife own shares in General Electric, Heinz, PepsiCo and Wal-Mart; furthermore he holds equity in Mehta Tech – an Iowa manufacturer of fault event recorders – as well.