Chicago, IL (BlackNews.com) – John H. Johnson, founder, publisher and chairman of Johnson Publishing Company, Inc., died Monday, August 8, in Chicago at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. He was 87.
Johnson was the founder of a major international media and cosmetics empire that includes EBONY and JET magazines, Fashion Fair Cosmetics and EBONY Fashion Fair. It is the No. 1 African-American publishing company in the world founded in 1942.
Mr. Johnson borrowed $500 on his mother’s furniture and created a publishing and cosmetics empire is credited as one of the major trailblazers and he is recognized as the founder of the African-American consumer market. The founder and publisher succumbed after an extended illness on the 60th anniversary of EBONY magazine, which, under his leadership, has been the biggest Black-owned magazine in the world for 60 straight years. In 2002, Johnson named Linda Johnson Rice, the chief operating officer, CEO of the company, but retained the title of chairman and publisher until his death.
Rice said her father was active in company affairs. “He was in his office and alert and active until the end. He was the greatest salesman and CEO I have ever known, but he was also a father, friend and mentor with a great sense of humor who never stopped climbing mountains and dreaming dreams.”
Throughout his career, Mr. Johnson received several awards including, the highest civilian honor, The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Magazine Publisher’s Association Publisher of the Year Award, the Advertising Hall of Fame Award, the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame Award, the National Business Hall of Fame Award, the Greatest Minority Entrepreneur Award, the Horatio Alger Award and the NAACP Spingarn Award. In 2003 Howard University in Washington, D.C. established the John H. Johnson School of Communications in his honor. In 2005 the John H. Johnson Delta Cultural and Entrepreneurial Learning Center in Arkansas City was dedicated. Mr. Johnson received several honorary doctoral degrees from universities including Harvard University, the University of Southern California, Northwestern University, Howard University and Morehouse College.
Mrs. Rice states, “This is a tremendously sad time for me personally, my mother and my daughter, Alexa, and for our company and its employees. However, we are determined to continue to move forward with the inspiring legacy he has left us.” Mr. Johnson was born in poverty in Arkansas City, Arkansas in 1918. He credits the love and determination of his mother, the late Gertrude Johnson Williams for starting him on the road to success. Throughout his career he was supported by his wife, Eunice W. Johnson, secretary-treasurer of the company; and his daughter, President & CEO Linda Johnson Rice.
In his autobiography, Succeeding Against the Odds, Mr. Johnson said, “I believe that the only failure is failing to try…and if my life has meaning…it is because millions of Americans, Black and White, have proved through me that the Dream is still alive and well and working in America.”
Funeral arrangements are pending.
