Subsidiary | |
Founded | New York City, New York, United States in 1955 |
Founder | Henry Ward Johns C. B. Manville |
Headquarters | Denver, Colorado, United States |
Key people
|
Mary Rhinehart (Chairman, President and CEO) |
Products | insulation, roofing materials |
Parent | Berkshire Hathaway |
Website | www |
Johns Manville is an American corporation based in Denver, Colorado that manufactures insulation, roofing materials, and engineered products. For much of the 20th century, the then-titled Johns-Manville Corporation was the global leader in the manufacture of asbestos-containing products, including asbestos pipe insulation, asbestos shingles, asbestos roofing materials and asbestos cement pipe.
Johns Manville stock was included in the Dow Jones Industrial Average from January 29, 1930 to August 27, 1982 when it was replaced by American Express. In 1981, Johns-Manville Corporation was renamed simply "Manville". In 1982, facing unprecedented liability for asbestos injury claims, Johns Manville voluntarily filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
Berkshire Hathaway bought the company in 2001. Chairman & CEO Jerry Henry retired in 2004; Steve Hochhauser became Chairman, President & CEO. Todd Raba succeeded him in the summer of 2007; Raba came from MidAmerican Energy Holdings, another Berkshire Hathaway company. In November 2012, Mary Rhinehart was named President & CEO.
Founded in 1858, the modern Johns-Manville entity was the result of the merger of two early construction products manufacturers. At the age of 21, Henry Ward Johns had already patented roofing and insulation products. He founded the H. W. Johns Manufacturing Company in New York City. Likewise, in 1885, the Manville Covering Company was founded in Wisconsin by C. B. Manville. C. B. Manville's grandson was the much-married socialite Tommy Manville.
In 1901, H. W. Johns Manufacturing and Manville Covering Co. merged to form H. W. Johns-Manville Company. In 1926, the company was renamed Johns-Manville Corporation. In the 1930s, the industrialist Lewis H. Brown was president of the Johns-Manville Corporation. In 1949, the Canadian branch of the corporation was involved in the Asbestos Strike at its mines in Asbestos, Canada. In 1958, Johns Manville bought Glass Fibers, Inc. based in Toledo, OH from Randolph Barnard. This purchase propelled Manville's insulation division. At the time Dominick Labino was working for Glass Fibers, Barnard and Labino both joined Johns Manville. Glass Fibers had several plants in Waterville and Defiance, those are still in operation under Johns Manville