When George F. Johnson died, the nation witnessed one of the largest funerals in U.S. history.

George F. Johnson was the owner of the Endicott Johnson Corp. — at one time the country’s leading shoe manufacturer — and one of the nation’s leading welfare capitalists.

The company was based in the Triple Cities of upstate New York: Endicott, Johnson City and Binghamton. The region was known as the “Valley of Opportunity,” so-called because of Johnson’s generous labor policies, known as the “Square Deal.”