Robert Johnson

1930 - 2021

Robert Johnson
November 6, 1930 - December 26, 2021
Greensboro, North Carolina - Rev. Robert "Bob" Leon Johnson Jr., beloved father and university chaplain, died Sunday, December 26, 2021 at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina. He was in his 92nd year.
A lifelong preacher, Bob was born in Lake Wales, Florida to Robert & Loralee Johnson. He was a proud graduate of the University of North Carolina, and received graduate degrees from Harvard University and Union Theological Seminary, where he was a student of Paul Tillich and Reinhold Niebuhr.
Bob's theology reflected his wide range of interests, and his belief that the surest way to nurture a relationship with God was to be more attentive to the world, and he found these moments in any call to be more fully present, whether it was through worship service, the outdoors, literature, cooking and eating, visiting an art museum, or traveling with his children and grandchildren.
In 2020, the UNC Wesley Campus Ministry, where Bob served for 18 years as director, established a fellowship in honor of his 90th birthday: the Rev. Robert L. Johnson Fund for a Diverse Wesley. His tenure at Wesley (1957-1975) was driven by the civil rights struggle, and during his time there, he hosted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for a lunch with local ministers, worked to integrate establishments around Chapel Hill, and followed the lead of his mentor, Rev. Charlie Jones. This led Bob to action both in and out of the pulpit, and established his deep interest in social justice, which persisted throughout his various ministries.
In 1982, Bob was named the chaplain at Cornell University, where he became the director of Cornell United Religious Work. While at Cornell, he oversaw the growth of the interfaith community on campus, as well as the weekly Sunday services at Sage Chapel, where he brought a wide range of speakers and thinkers to Sage's pulpit, including John Cleese, Peter Gomes, Arianna Huffington, John Lewis, and William Buckley. During his lifelong career in campus ministry, he also served as president of the National Institute for Campus Ministries, the Association of College and University Religious Affairs, and on the editorial board of the journal Cross Currents. He is the author of the book Counter Culture and the Vision of God (Augsburg Publishing, 1971), and a collection of sermons, Defending the Hope Within Us (Forest Home Chapel, 2006). He retired from Cornell in 2001 and subsequently served for over two years as the part-time pastor of the Forest Home Chapel in Ithaca, New York. In 2006, he moved to the Twin Lakes community in his adopted home of North Carolina.
Bob Johnson will be remembered by his family and friends, both for his erudition and his sense of humor – he was as likely to quote Monty Python or Faulkner as he was the Gospels. Those who knew him, knew both his generosity and his notorious impatience, as well as his constant willingness to discuss politics or the weather or Carolina basketball. He will be remembered as a magnificent preacher, a kind neighbor, and a devoted father and grandfather.
He was preceded in death by his former wives, Barbara Johnson and Rev. Kathleen Finney, and his sister, Betty Wildman. He is survived by his four sons and their spouses, Dr. Paul and Cheryl Johnson of Atlanta, Georgia; Christopher Johnson of Burlington, North Carolina; David Johnson and Jessica Byrne of Lansing, New York; and Luke Thomas Johnson and Nicolle Desjarlais of Franklin, Tennessee. He is also survived by his beloved nieces Cindy Dunn and Kathy Johnson, his nephew Mark Wildman, as well as his five grandchildren: Benjamin Johnson, Luke Forrester Johnson, William Johnson, Ramona Johnson, and Finn Johnson.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be directed to the North Carolina Museum of Art, which gave him so much pleasure throughout his life, or to the Reverend Robert L. Johnson Fund for a Diverse Wesley at the UNC Wesley Campus Ministry. A memorial service will be held at a later date.