John Brayton Johnson ’39

After months of struggle to recover from abdominal surgery, Johnny died at his home in Watertown, N.Y., on May 2, 2001. He had been chairman of the Johnson Newspaper Corp. and editor and publisher of the Watertown Daily Times for 52 years. Taking over the Times in 1949 after the death of his father, he built a media company, buying and upgrading daily and weekly papers in New York state and bringing television to northern New York. He was an officer in the Army's counter-intelligence service 1942-46. He joined the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1950 and won the John Peter Zenger Award of the N.Y. Newspaper Publishers Assn. in 1993 in honor of his contributions to the newspaper industry. He was a member of the N.Y. State Dormitory Authority since 1950 and its chairman from 1962-82. He received the Distinguished Citizen Award in 1989 from the State U. of N.Y. and received honorary degrees from St. Lawrence and upstate medical universities.

John and Catherine Common were married in 1941. Catherine and their two sons, two daughters, and eight grandchildren survive. We offer them our sincere sympathy.

The Class of 1939