Johann Benckiser
Johann Adam Benckiser was a German chemist who was the founder of Joh. A. Benckiser GmbH, a major German chemicals business. The business has been part of Reckitt Benckiser, a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, since 1999.Career
Benckiser founded a business in Pforzheim, Germany specialising in industrial and consumer goods industrial chemicals in 1823. He initially made ammonia, hydrochloric acid and ammonium chloride. Karl Ludwig Reimann, a chemist, joined the business in 1828 and married Benckiser's daughter. Benckiser died in May 1851. Since then the company has been owned and enlarged by the Reimann family. In the 1980s it became a substantial company under the guidance of manager Peter Harf.
