William Albert Johnson

William (Bill) Albert Johnson, 76, of Louisville, Colorado, passed away on February 7, 2026, from acute myeloid leukemia.

Bill was born on April 28, 1949, in Manhattan, New York City, and grew up in Cranford, New Jersey, graduating from Cranford High School in 1968. Bill's adventurous life began shortly after graduation, traveling around Europe before moving to British Columbia. Wanting to escape the cold of Canada, he found himself working aboard a fishing boat out of Reykjavík, Iceland. The Cod Fish Wars had him returning to Europe, where he traveled with a newlywed couple—and their two ducks. In 1976, Bill bought land in Glover, Vermont, where he built his off-grid cabin, beginning years of travel between Canada and Vermont doing construction and other various jobs including driving the town snow plow and hauling horses to Vashon Island, WA.

A friend in Vermont introduced Bill to what would become one of the great callings of his life: the South Pole. From 1997 through 2020, Bill worked in Antarctica, completing six winter-overs and countless summers. (Countless, because he was one of the few “Polies” the National Science Foundation quietly allowed to deploy summer–winter–summer.) His final winter at the Pole was in 2020 during COVID. He would have continued if not for new physical qualification rules preventing deployment after age 65. He had hoped to become the oldest person ever to winter at the Pole and imagined spending his later years grooming the skiway.

Bill was pivotal in the construction of the New Elevated South Pole Station, the arches and the deconstruction of the Dome. His work on the South Pole Telescope during the summer of 2006–2007 launched him into the specialized field of astronomical telescope construction. He took a hiatus from the Pole to help build 25 of the 66 radio telescopes that make up the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile’s Atacama Desert.

His expertise led him to projects across the United States and around the world, including work in Hawaii at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory, in New Mexico at the NRAO Very Large Array and the Next Generation Very Large Array, in South Africa with MeerKAT, and in England. Wherever there was complex, large-scale astronomical infrastructure to build, Bill’s knowledge and leadership were valued.

Bill possessed an irreproachable work ethic in anything he did. He did not suffer fools and surrounded himself with good people. He took particular pride in hiring and mentoring crews at the South Pole and on telescope projects. Quietly, he also delighted in the friendships, and even marriages, that resulted from bringing such remarkable people together. Everyone he encountered, from the janitors to the principal investigators on a project, all received the same level of respect. He understood the importance of an extra thank you, sometimes in the form of donuts. Bill was strong in mind and body and never asked someone to do something that he wasn't willing to do himself. No one really knew when he slept.

Bill was a loyal and trustworthy friend who embodied encouragement and curiosity. Talking people up, not down, never sharing gossip. Always working forward on a solution to a problem, while teaching the fine details of each step. He knew what he liked and saw no need for change simply for the sake of it. Though he avoided the spotlight and would never be found in the center of a crowd, or in one at all, Bill’s quiet love for his friends and community ran deep. He never sat down during holidays, but you could find this vegetarian in the back carving every turkey. He believed in being well mannered, respectful, holding the door for others. He gave the best of himself and wanted the same in return.

In addition to his adoptive parents, Albert E. and Dorothy H. Johnson, Bill was preceded in death by his sister, Linda Marguerite Johnson.

Bill leaves behind an extraordinary extended family of friends gathered over decades at the South Pole and across the globe. At the time of his passing, he had friends on every continent.

Bill was, simply, an extraordinary man.