Sharon Lynn Johnson

Sharon Lynn Johnson was born March 1, 1942, in Chicago, Il to George and Stella Johnson. Sharon grew up in the Oak Park, Park Ridge area. She was very smart and industrious, even from an early age. She worked hard at academics and in other areas in her life. She was devoted to her family and friends.

Sharon completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and did graduate work at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and the University of Chicago. At the University of Illinois she worked on the school newspaper with Roger Ebert, the renowned film critic who remained a good friend. One summer after graduate school she was chosen to participate in, and excelled at, the select Radcliffe Publishing Course program. Sharon was well versed in every aspect of operations of the publishing and news businesses.

Sharon always dreamed of being a journalist and a writer. As one of her colleagues jokingly said, she "began her career at age five interviewing her first-grade peers about how foods served in the school cafeteria had affected their immune systems". All joking aside, Sharon's interests in Politics, Economics, Medicine and Science blended well with her printed work and journalism.

She began her adult career as a cub reporter for the Chicago Tribune, later worked as a stringer reporter for the New York Times in Los Angeles and then finally as a reporter and editor for the Times' National Desk, where she remained for decades until her recent retirement. She worked alongside numerous Executive Editors, including A.M. Rosenthal, Max Frankel, and Dean Bacquet, among others, and with legendary journalists like Seymour Hersh. Sharon was a key member of the Assignment Team, supporting the National Desk. She also wrote important articles for Women's E-News and The Progressive magazine.

Along the way, Sharon inspired and mentored many young journalists, many of whom are still working at the New York Times or in journalism today. She also taught writing at Hunter College, Marymount Manhattan College and NYU. Her popular classes on mystery writing inspired several writers of that genre.

While Sharon was divorced for many years from Dr. Jack Maidman, a New York obstetrician-gynecologist, she was and remained a loving stepmother to two sons, Ian and Bret Maidman. She was very proud of both of them and felt privileged to be part of their lives. When the family moved from California to New York, Sharon continued to develop her career at the New York Times working on the Economic desk and with the National Bureau from New York. Over the years Sharon covered national politics, health care, economic policy, business and other key issues. Among other things, Sharon traveled with the Reagan campaign, covered various Republican and Democratic national conventions, did research relating to Nixon and Watergate, and covered the Jonathan Pollard spy scandal. During the recent pandemic she developed much of the NYT Covid coverage, from all angles. Sharon was an expert on Medicare, gun control, Congress, the federal budget, the U.S. military and weapons systems, health conditions and health care, and so much more. She was always brainstorming for and developing key story ideas and advocating for the writing and publication of important and original stories that she believed should not be overlooked and must be told. She felt that was her calling and sometimes said she believed that was what God wanted her to do. Above all, Sharon wanted to help people and provide them with the knowledge and information they needed to understand complex issues and make the best informed decisions.

Sharon's desire for lifelong learning was endless. She attended several science and technology and health related conferences at MIT in Boston. Also, she regularly attended lectures at the Asia Society. She enjoyed live concerts and the ballet, and loved visiting museums, including with her weekly art group at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Sharon was also extremely well read. She loved American fiction of Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald in particular, and also enjoyed reading about American history from Colonial times to the present. She followed several online history courses at Yale about the American Revolution and the Civil War and enjoyed the biographies of such figures as John Adams, Frederick Douglas, John Kerry, FDR, Eleanor Roosevelt and Barack Obama. She enjoyed the writing of Doris Kearns Goodwin and also subscribed to Foreign Affairs Magazine, the New Yorker, and the Atlantic, among other publications. She loved the humor of Christopher Buckley, the political satirist.

As a woman of faith Sharon was devoted to helping out at church. For years at the Park Avenue Methodist Church Sharon was a beloved usher. She also served on the Board for the Methodist Home in Riverdale, NY. She provided tremendous help and support to an immigrant woman who needed legal, medical and housing assistance. Sharon later enjoyed attending services at the Church of Heavenly Rest on Fifth Avenue where she was an active congregant and made many good friends.

Sharon was always full of life, enthusiasm and energy. She displayed excitement and curiosity at pursuing ideas, always looking for the truth.

"More to be revealed", she would always say.

Sharon was a strategic thinker and a strategic planner. While she would call herself "a pessimist with a plan" she was so much more than that.

Sharon's family, friends and colleagues will miss her greatly.

She brought a lot of light and joy to the world.

We hope to continue to carry that light and joy to others on her behalf.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on May 15, 2025, from 01:00 PM to 02:00 PM at Church of the Heavenly Rest 1085 Fifth Avenue.