David C. Johnson 1937-2017

David C. Johnson, 79, died Saturday, Feb. 11, 2017, in Carbondale. He was born Dec. 11, 1937, in Finley, North Dakota, to Ben and Mabel (Carlson) Johnson.

He graduated from Finley High School in 1955 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1959 from the University of North Dakota. He also was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the United States Army. David became a certified public accountant in 1960 and earned a Juris Doctorate degree in 1961 from University of North Dakota, where he was editor-in-chief of North Dakota Law Review. He earned the Masters of Law degree from University of Pennsylvania in 1964.

David married Karen Erdman on Sept. 9, 1962, in St. Paul’s Lutheran Church at Willow City, North Dakota. They made their first home at Fort McPherson in Atlanta, Georgia, and subsequently lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Decatur, Georgia; and Norman, Oklahoma, until moving to Carbondale in 1975. Karen died on June 23, 2016.

David taught law for 40 years; first at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1964 to 1971; then at University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma, from 1971 to 1975. He joined the School of Law at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale in 1975 as a member of the founding faculty. His teaching areas were tax law, estate planning and property law. He served five years as associate dean at the law school, and was a member of the Morris Library Friends and the Board of Visitors, which was instrumental in initiating the 2009-11 renovation and rebuilding of Morris Library. He was a past president and strong friend of the University Library support group.

David has two daughters, Laurie (Carl Niekerk) of Champaign, Illinois, and Victoria (Christopher Davis) of Irvine, California; two granddaughters, Naomi Niekerk and Maaike Niekerk; his sister, Betty (Jerome) Schwartz of Fargo, North Dakota.