John H. Johnson, the founder of the Johnson Publishing Co. Inc. of Chicago, the largest black-owned publishing company in the world and the publisher of Ebony and Jet magazines, died Monday. He was 87.
His company said the Arkansas City native died at Northwest Memorial in Chicago after an extended illness.
Founded more than 55 years ago, Ebony is the nation’s No. 1 African-American-oriented magazine with a circulation of about 1.7 million and a monthly readership of 11 million.
Johnson started Johnson Publishing in 1942 with a $500 loan against his mother’s furniture. The company has a book division. Its Jet magazine is the No. 1 African-American newsweekly in America with a readership of more than 8 million. Johnson Publishing employs more than 2,600 people and has sales of more than $388 million.
Johnson Publishing also owns Fashion Fair Cosmetics, a leading makeup and skin care company for women of color, and Supreme Beauty products, hair care for men and women. The company is involved in television production and produces the Ebony Fashion Fair, the world’s largest traveling fashion show, which has donated more than $47 million to charity. The show visits more than 200 cities in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean.
Johnson was inducted into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame in 2000. The hall of fame is part of the Sam M. Walton College of Business Administration at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville.
More on Johnson
• The Chicago Tribune, Wasington Post and New York Times weigh in via Romenesko’s media news.
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