After nearly 40 years, a Sparta estate once home to one of the most famous CEOs of the era of excess, RJR Nabisco's F. Ross Johnson, is back on the market.
Johnson's former hilltop retreat at 210 E. Mountain Road is quickly gaining interest, however, partially due to its four-season splendor, said Ryan McGurl, the listing agent with Prominent Properties Sotheby's International Realty. The home, listed for about $1.5 million, offers five bedrooms, five full bathrooms and unparalleled views of nearby Lake Mohawk and the Northern Highlands beyond.
Though it was built in the mid-1930s, the home's most famous owner came in 1981. Johnson, born in December 1931 in Winnipeg, Canada, took ownership of 210 E. Mountain the same year his company Standard Brands merged with Nabisco, then based in East Hanover. Called "a symbol of corporate greed" by The New York Times, Johnson was known for living a lavish corporate-funded lifestyle that often had him elbow to elbow with celebrities, star athletes and other high-profile executives of the 1980s.
After taking the helm at Nabisco, Johnson led the company's 1985 merger with RJ Reynolds before attempting to take control of the public company itself. Ultimately, RJR Nabisco was sold to a private equity firm in a leveraged buyout, and many of its assets were divested over the following years. Johnson was ousted but netted more than $50 million in severance pay before retreating south to run his own private investment company.
Johnson was profiled by Wall Street Journal columnists Bryan Burrough and John Helyar in their book "Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco." The book was adapted into an HBO film that featured James Garner as the boisterous dealmaker, who died in December 2016.
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Johnson's former Sparta home sits hidden from view along a lightly traveled road that traverses Route 15. Perched on a hilltop just south of the Sparta Glen, 210 E. Mountain covers 59 densely wooded acres near the border between Morris and Sussex counties.
The land was once owned by James B. Titman. Appointed local postmaster in 1856, Titman took over the Morris Anchor Works at Morris Lake north of the glen and renamed it the Mountain Forge. Titman served as a quartermaster in the New Jersey Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War as the forge pumped out anchors for the U.S. Navy.
The home that sits on his former land features thick stone walls and a massive stone patio with views reaching the Delaware Water Gap on a clear day. There are private terraces off the primary and second bedrooms, three fireplaces and a sauna. The home also boasts a media room, an elevator and a home gym.