John H. Johnson was publisher, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Johnson Publishing Company, Inc. The company publishes books, Ebony, Jet, and EM (Ebony Man). Other businesses in the family include Supreme Life Insurance Company, Fashion Flair Cosmetics, and the televised American Black Achievement Awards.

He received numerous awards, including the Horatio Alger Award, the NAACP Springarn Medal and the National Newspaper Publishers Association’s Henry Johnson Fisher Award for outstanding contributions to publishing.

Mr. Johnson sat on the Boards of The Dial Corporation and Dillard Department Stores. He was a trustee of the Art Institute of Chicago and the United Negro College Fund.