2 of America’s richest families are in New Jersey

They say you can’t take it with you. But boy what you can do with it until you leave.

There’s rich. Then there’s so-filthy-rich-you-can’t-possibly-fathom-how-one-family-could-have-amassed-such-a-jaw-dropping-fortune kind of rich. Which brings us to our list.

Forbes recently released a new rundown of America’s wealthiest families. 44 in all. Some of the names you never heard of. Like the Butt family. They’re the 20th richest family in America owning a grocery store chain in the south. The Butts are worth nearly 19 billion dollars. Those are some powerful Butts!

Then there are names you know right away and instantly recognize how they acquired their fortune. Like S.C. Johnson. As in SC Johnson floor wax, which is the item that started the cleaning product company. They’re from Washington and three family members sit on the company’s board of directors. The family is worth $38.5 billion.

Two families from New Jersey made the list.

SEE ALSO: Woodbridge Center Mall has been sold … but what comes next?

One is the Dorrance family. The formula for condensed soup was invented in 1869 by John T. Dorrance and it launched the Campbell’s soup company. All these years later and the company is still headquartered in Camden, New Jersey and the family is worth $17 billion and is ranked by Forbes as America’s 23rd wealthiest clan.

Another Johnson family is the second family on the list from the Garden State. It’s a medical name you must be familiar with. Robert Wood Johnson founded the Johnson & Johnson health product company in 1886.

The company ballooned to a global juggernaut after 1932 when his son Robert Wood Johnson II took over. It’s Robert Wood Johnson II who the Robert Wood Johnson hospital system is named after. The Johnson family is worth $16 billion.

See the full list of America’s wealthiest families here.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski only.

You can now listen to Deminski & Doyle — On Demand! Hear New Jersey’s favorite afternoon radio show any day of the week. Download the Deminski & Doyle show wherever you get podcasts, on our free app, or listen right now.

Click here to contact an editor about feedback or a correction for this story.