F. Mitchell Johnson

F Mitchell Johnson was a successful Charleston businessman whose devotion to his alma mater, the College of Charleston, put him in a leadership role at just the right time in the school's history. The former basketball star turned investment banker was the trusted president of the board of trustees, who, along with then-college President Theodore S. Stern, guided the successful conversion of the municipal college to a state-supported institution.

A native of Charleston, Mr. Johnson, who died last week at age 90, had an unabashed love for the college from which he graduated in 1937. He once told a reporter he got into the securities and investment business during the days of the Great Depression "purely by accident." He clearly found his calling, going on to become president and chief executive officer of his firm, which became the first member of the New York Stock Exchange in the South.

While his family always came first, there were those who said the college held second place in his heart. He first became active in the alumni association, advancing from the alumni board to its presidency. In 1959, he became the first member of the board of trustees elected by graduates of the college. Nine years later, he became board president. It was a time for some tough decision making for a school steeped in history. Dating from 1770, the school became the country's first municipal college in 1836. Reflecting in a 1987 article on his 28 years as a trustee, Mr. Johnson said he believed he had witnessed more change at the school than anyone in its long history. Those changes included the integration of the student body.

The reality that led to the school becoming a state institution in 1970 became apparent early in his tenure as board president. "It was proven by then that it took about 1,500 students to have an efficient operation. We were down to 400 to 500, which made it very difficult for us to provide the services and curriculum and the salaries and the professors as we struggled through the '60s," he said. When he retired from the board in 1987, he noted that the number of students had risen from 500 to 5,000 and the number of faculty from 27 to 250. Today, enrollment is 9,820 and the faculty totals 523.

Not only did he serve the College of Charleston, he became chairman of the State College Board, and also served as an ex officio member of the State Commission on Higher Education. In 1982, the college's new physical education center on George Street was named in his honor.

"It is impossible to overstate the significance of Mitchell Johnson's leadership of the college during its most significant time in history," Charleston Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr. said on the news of his death. "He and Ted Stern made a wonderful team. They shared the vision of what the college could be and how it could grow dramatically as a state institution but nestle itself carefully in the historic fabric of the city. He gave critical leadership and he gave the college's most remarkable president and visionary leader, Ted Stern, his full and complete support and friendship.

"He was a remarkable example of profound civic leadership, a private citizen in a volunteer position of great responsibility giving wisdom and extraordinary vision, leadership and integrity. He had credibility and understood the college and the city and it was very fortunate he was in that position of leadership."

While the college occupied much of his time, he also was active in the community at large, belonging to a number of civic and social clubs. He was a past commodore of the Carolina Yacht Club and previously on the vestry of St. Philip's Episcopal Church, where his funeral will be held Monday.

At the dedication of the athletic center several decades ago, F. Mitchell Johnson was described as a man who personified competition and the quest for excellence. His contributions to this community attest to the success of his quest.