George E. Johnson, the pioneering Chicago entrepreneur whose eponymous company transformed Black hair care in the U.S. died on Monday at age 99.

George E. Johnson Sr., the pioneering American businessman and entrepreneur who built a Black hair care empire, died at his home in Chicago on Monday.

The Johnson Products Company was founded in 1954, catering to African Americans’ evolving tastes in hairstyles and fashion, in an era when U.S. companies paid little attention to…