When James Kopencey, director of the Hartford Parking Authority, started working as a teenager, the experience did not yield to any life-changing epiphanies. Nor did it lead him to pursue a particular college major or career.
But it did teach him a lot about people and how to get along. “It taught me values about working hard, about promptness, courtesy, tactfulness, and to leave those people alone who didn’t want to be bothered,” he recalled.
At 17 years old, with college to pay for and a disabled father – a former firefighter injured in the line of duty – at home, Kopencey took a job at Johnson & Johnson’s corporate headquarters in his hometown of New Brunswick, N.J. as a janitor during the summer.
Each executive had his or her own quirks; Some liked their offices cleaned thoroughly, while others didn’t want their offices touched.
None were as quirky as J. Seward Johnson, who, with his brother, Robert Wood Johnson, ran the global company. Seward also ran a pig farm in Princeton, a five-minute helicopter ride from Johnson & Johnson’s New Brunswick headquarters.
“He would wear boots covered with pig droppings, which would fall off all the way up and into his office,” Kopencey recalls.
“He always had a dramatic arrival,” Kopencey recalled.
Following his five-minute helicopter ride, Seward would get into his Porsche – and yes, still wearing his muck-covered boots –- drive 100 yards to the executive garage. There, he would be driven another 100 yards by the company limousine to the executive elevator that would take him to the fifth floor, where the penthouse office suites were located.
Seward’s brother, Robert Wood Johnson, the philanthropist who left a bequest of his entire fortune — $1 billion — to a foundation bearing his name, was less dramatic and known as a gentleman. Kopencey’s most memorable experience was a chance and surprise encounter with Robert Wood Johnson.
With a garbage can in tow, Kopencey was emptying the small trashcans on the penthouse floor. He had expected the boardroom to be empty, as it normally was. But on one particular occasion, he opened the doors to the boardroom to discover 20 board members sitting around a large conference table, with Robert Wood Johnson sitting at the helm.
Startled, Kopencey leaped back and hoped to make a quick exit. All eyes were upon him, with some board members equally shocked by his intrusion.
Regardless of the interruption, Johnson welcomed Kopencey into the room, making light of the situation. He remembers Johnson waving him into the room, saying, “‘No young man. Stop. We don’t halt the wheels of progress.’”
“I walked into an office expecting it to be empty,” he recalled. “Instead, I see the person who was the head of a multi-billion dollar organization, and [I will always remember] getting such a warm reception from him.”
Kopencey saved his earnings as a janitor to put himself through college and to contribute to the family expenses. His father passed away when he was 18, so Kopencey handed over his paycheck to his mother, who in turn gave him an allowance. “I felt it was my responsibility to put myself through school,” he said.
After graduating from college, Kopencey never returned to the janitorial work. Instead, he has pursued two careers since graduating from college; one as an art teacher and the other as an urban parking professional, heading a parking authority in New Jersey and now in Hartford.
