Jerome A. Johnson ’55

Jerry died Oct. 9, 2023, after a lifetime that seemed crammed with travel — he wrote of visiting all seven continents, all 50 states, and 44% of the 3,143 U.S. counties.

He was born Feb. 15, 1933, in Pasadena, Calif., and attended Lawrenceville, where he was involved with publications, debating, and sports management. At Princeton, he joined Campus Club and majored in history. He won numerals as freshman soccer manager and a six-inch P as varsity soccer manager. He was general manager of the Debate Panel sophomore year and was president his junior year. Jerry also taught Sunday School at the First Presbyterian Church. His senior-year roommates were James Donnelly and John Voorhies.

Jerry spent eight years in the Army, which he said was a real education in how a complete organization worked and how to relate to people of different backgrounds.

After the Army he graduated from Stanford Law School, spent 13 years with the Los Angeles County counsel’s office, then moved to the Los Angeles County Assessment Appeals Board.

In our 50th-reunion yearbook, Jerry noted that important events in his life were seeing his first iceberg with a penguin on it in Antarctica and scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef. He said he found volunteer work enriching and developed a hobby, which he described as an obsession, with birding. In 2003, he moved to a retirement community about 25 miles west of Palm Springs, where he acquired a new house with a garden designed to attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Jerry served in several roles in regional Annual Giving drives and was a member of the 1746 Society, which embraces planned bequests to the University.