Ex-College President John Johnson Dies at 78

SANTA ANA — Dr. John E. Johnson, a longtime president of Rancho Santiago College, died in his sleep Friday morning at his home here. He was 78.

Known to most of his colleagues and students as “Dr. J,” the retired educator is remembered as a guiding light in the college district where he worked for more than half a century.

“He provided a level of dignity and strength that was critical for the developmental years of the college,” said Dean Strenger, vice chancellor for Rancho Santiago College’s Orange campus who worked with Johnson in the 1970s.

For 20 years, Johnson was president of what was then known as Santa Ana College. During his tenure, he helped expand the school into the larger, multicampus Rancho Santiago Community College District and served as superintendent from 1971 to his retirement in 1979.

“He provided an inspiration and a benchmark for many of us, as we were young and new in administration, that has served us well as we continued our careers in education,” Strenger said. “He did it by example.”

The California native attended Occidental College and USC and rose through the ranks beginning as a high school chemistry teacher in Santa Ana during the 1930s.

Strenger said that, although it has been years since Johnson’s retirement, most of the students are familiar with the former president’s name because one of the new student centers was named after him in the early 1980s.

Johnson recently had appeared to have been in good health. His wife, Annalee, said her husband died peacefully by her side. The couple had been planning to leave for a trip to Palm Springs on Friday when she woke up around 8 a.m. and realized her husband had died.

“He spoke to me this morning at 4:30 and told me what a wonderful life he’s had and how he loved every minute,” she said. “It was sad but very beautiful.”

Johnson is also survived by his two daughters, Barbara Drew of San Jose and Patty Peebles of Santa Ana.

Funeral arrangements were pending.