Meet “Maxwell W. Beckton and Fairleigh S. Dickinson”

“Two salesmen, Maxwell W. Becton (left) and Fairleigh S. Dickinson (right), met in a train station and realized that they were both from North Carolina and shared the same birthday. In 1897, with only a handshake, they formed Becton, Dickinson and Company. First situated in New York City, the partners found a site for their manufacturing plant on Hackensack and Cornelia Streets in East Rutherford, New Jersey. After a temporary stay in the Maples Boardinghouse, they decided to remain as Rutherford neighbors with the Becton’s living at 140 Ridge Road and the Dickinsons at 185 Ridge Road. Their success in friendship and business was astounding, as Becton Dickinson became one of the largest medical suppliers in the world, and the partners and their families remained friends until the end. After their deaths, they were interred in side by side plots in Hillside Cemetery in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. (Courtesy of BD archives)”

(“Images of America - Rutherford”, William Neumann, 2012, Published by Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, SC)