Biography

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, into a lower-middle-class family, he used a military cadet scholarship program to attend the University of Manitoba

University of Manitoba

The University of Manitoba , in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is the largest university in the province of Manitoba. It is Manitoba's most comprehensive and only research-intensive post-secondary educational institution. It was founded in 1877, making it Western Canada’s first university. It placed...

 where he graduated in 1952 with a Bachelor of Commerce

Bachelor of Commerce

A Bachelor of Commerce is an undergraduate degree in commerce and related subjects. The degree is also known as the Bachelor of Commerce and Administration, or BCA...

 degree and was a member of the fraternity

Fraternity

A fraternity is a brotherhood, though the term usually connotes a distinct or formal organization. An organization referred to as a fraternity may be a:*Secret society*Chivalric order*Benefit society*Friendly society*Social club*Trade union...

 Phi Delta Theta

Phi Delta Theta

Phi Delta Theta , also known as Phi Delt, is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 169 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S...

. He went on to earn an M.B.A. degree from the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

 in 1956. He first worked as an accountant for Canadian General Electric

General Electric

General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...

 in Montreal and as a vice-president of merchandising for the T. Eaton Company

Eaton's

The T. Eaton Co. Limited was once Canada's largest department store retailer. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an Irish immigrant. Eaton's grew to become a retail and social institution in Canada, with stores across the country, buying offices across the globe, and a catalogue...

 before being named president of Standard Brands

Standard Brands

Standard Brands was formed in 1929 by J.P. Morgan with the merger of:*Fleischmann Company*Royal Baking Powder Company*E. W. Gillett*Widlar Food Products Company*Chase & Sanborn Coffee Company...

 Ltd. Johnson negotiated a merger between Standard Brands and Nabisco with Nabisco CEO Bob Schaeberle in 1981. Soon Schaeberle left Nabisco and Johnson took the helm replacing many of the "Old Guard" Nabisco executives with loyal ones from Standard Brands. After growing restless, he went into talks that led to the Nabisco-RJ Reynolds merger in 1985. He was soon appointed as President and CEO

Chief executive officer

A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...

 of RJR Nabisco

RJR Nabisco

RJR Nabisco, Inc., was an American conglomerate formed in 1985 by the merger of Nabisco Brands and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. RJR Nabisco was purchased in 1988 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co...

. Johnson appeared on the December 5, 1988 cover of Time Magazine. After dismal stock performance following the 1987 Stock Market Crash

Black Monday (1987)

In finance, Black Monday refers to Monday October 19, 1987, when stock markets around the world crashed, shedding a huge value in a very short time. The crash began in Hong Kong and spread west to Europe, hitting the United States after other markets had already declined by a significant margin...

, Johnson decided to put the company in play. Originally, he planned to execute a management led leveraged buyout

Leveraged buyout

A leveraged buyout occurs when an investor, typically financial sponsor, acquires a controlling interest in a company's equity and where a significant percentage of the purchase price is financed through leverage...

 with Shearson Lehman Hutton. Events quickly escalated into a takeover contest.

Following the RJR Nabisco takeover by the Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.

KKR & Co. L.P. is an American-based global private equity firm, specializing in leveraged buyouts, based in New York. The firm sponsors and manages private equity investment funds. Since its inception, the firm has completed over $400 billion of private equity transactions and was a pioneer in...

 led by Henry Kravis

Henry Kravis

Henry R. Kravis is an American businessman and private equity investor. He is the co-founder of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., a private equity firm with over $62 billion in assets as of 2011. He has an estimated net worth of $3.7 billion as of September 2011, ranked by Forbes as the 88th richest...

, Johnson started his own private investment company, RJM Group, Inc., based in Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

. Until he resigned in March 2009 he was Chairman Of AuthentiDate Holding Corp., a United States publicly traded company. He serves on the board of directors of several companies including Bentley Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Johnson also serves on the advisory board of Power Corporation of Canada

Power Corporation of Canada

Power Corporation of Canada is a Canadian company with assets in North America and Europe in a number of industries. These industries include media, pulp and paper, and financial services....

.

He was made a Trustee of Duke University

Duke University

Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

 and served on the advisory councils of several universities. He has been honored with the United States Silver Medal of Patriotism; the Versailles Award of France and made an Officer of the Order of Canada

Order of Canada

The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...

. The Distinguished Visitors Program at the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

 Centre for the Study of the United States was endowed by Johnson in 2001 http://www.utoronto.ca/csus/faculty/visitors.html#heinz. [link broken]

Johnson maintains a home in Caledon, Ontario

Caledon, Ontario

Caledon is a town in the Regional Municipality of Peel in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada. In terms of land use, Caledon is somewhat urban, though it is primarily rural in nature...

, in Jupiter, Florida

Jupiter, Florida

Jupiter is a town located in Palm Beach County, Florida. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 39,328. The estimate population for 2009 is 50,606. As of 2006, the population had grown to 50,028, according to the University of Florida, Bureau of Economic and Business Research....

 and in Sparta Township, New Jersey

Sparta Township, New Jersey

Sparta Township is a Township in Sussex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 19,722...

. He was extensively profiled in the book Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco

Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco

Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco is a 1990 book about the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco, written by investigative journalists Bryan Burrough and John Helyar. The book is based upon a series of articles written by the authors for The Wall Street Journal...

by Wall Street Journal columnists and in the movie of the same name (see Barbarians at the Gate

Barbarians at the Gate (film)

Barbarians at the Gate is a television movie based upon the book by Bryan Burrough and John Helyar, about the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco.The film was directed by Glenn Jordan and written by Larry Gelbart. It stars James Garner as F...

). In the movie, Johnson was portrayed by actor James Garner

James Garner

James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...

.