William Benedict Johnson ’37

CHEMICAL ENGINEER, inventor, world traveler Ben Johnson died in England Feb. 3, 1991, of leukemia.

Ben came to us from Hotchkiss, where he featured football, glee club, and polo. At Princeton he was president of ivy, captain of the polo team and majored in chemical engineering.

Ben started off as a chemical engineer with M. W. Kellogg Co. in N.Y., before two years and four months in the Navy. His forte was landing craft and his theater ribbons included the American, Mediterranean, Southern France, Pacific and Occupation of Japan, emerging as a lieutenant (j.g.) in 1945. He continued with Kellogg until 1958, when he became a consultant in South Africa, England, and the U.S. He was holder of some 30 U.S. patents. One was the basic patent for large oil fromcoal plants in operation in South Africa, where he was project manager of the first plant, Sasol No. 1. He produced a new boiler design which produced steam for power generation without air pollution.

Along the way, Ben was a noted polo player in the N.Y. area and master of the hounds at the Essex Hunt Club in Peapack, NJ., when not sailing his 35ft. Hinckley or singing in a quartet and noisily playing golf with his three brothers, one Harvard, two Yale. He left his widow, Peggy; sons, Richard F. '61 and David P. '69 by his first wife Helen Hanford; a stepdaughter, Gayle; and three grandsons; to all of whom we send our deepest condolences.

The Class of 1937