Donald J. Johnson

Donald “Don” Johnson died on February 2, 2025, just around the corner from where he was born 93 years ago. During the intervening years he had a life full of family, friends, personal experiences, political and social engagement, and an unyielding belief in, and dedication to, education. 

 Don, the last of five children of Mildred and Ernst Johnson, grew up during the great depression on a small family farm in Deering, New Hampshire with no electricity or plumbing. His education started at a one-room schoolhouse, where he was part of the last eight grade class to graduate and continue to Hillsboro High School. It was in the 10th grade, as he recounted, he received one of the biggest breaks in his life. A new principle initiated a policy that all students would take biology, a class previously only available for a student in the academic track. As a farm boy from Deering, Don had been placed in the "shop track," but because of this new directive, by his junior year he was taking a full academic schedule, which afforded him the opportunity to attend college. He was always very proud of being on the baseball team that won the NH State Championship his senior year in 1949. 

 Don put himself through Keene State College, followed by two years in the army stationed at Fort Monmouth, NJ. He started his career in education, teaching at an orphanage in Philadelphia, then history at Radnor High School, where he also coached football and basketball, while earning his master’s degree from Temple University. In 1958, he decided to take a job at a newly formed progressive education school at Parsippany High School in New Jersey, where, during a bomb scare he met his future wife, a student teacher named Jean Elliott. His marriage to Jean in 1960 led to a partnership of almost 60 years. Together they wrote eight books, including Through Indian Eyes, Universal Religions in World History, and the four-volume history textbook The Human Drama. They established the Asian Studies Curriculum Center that distributed teaching materials on Asia to teachers around the Country, delivered countless papers and presentations, took part in writing the National Standards in World History, traveled to Asia and Europe many times, and raised three children. 

 From 1959 to 1965 Don worked on his doctoral degree at New York University and taught at Great Neck and later Edgemont High School in Scarsdale, NY. After receiving his Ph.D., he began teaching at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford, New Jersey, which meant leaving their apartment in East Harlem and relocating to NJ. In 1968, Don became a faculty member at New York University, which lasted over three decades. In 1969 he received a fellowship to develop curriculum pertaining to India, and the move with his family to New Delhi, India was often remembered. During his time at NYU, he taught courses on Asian studies, world history, and comparative culture, chaired the Asian Studies Department, started and, for 20 years, conducted an on-site graduate program featuring summer study in India, China, and Japan. He was also the founder of NYU's graduate program in International Education. 

At the end of the 20th century, he officially retired from NYU as professor emeritus and returned to Deering full time. He and Jean spend many years writing books in their attic office, tending their respective gardens, his vegetables, and her flowers, traveling, teaching, and lecturing, showing movies in their barn, participating in town committees, volunteering to elect political candidates, entertaining family and friends, minding their three grandchildren, and following the Boston Red Sox. 

 Don is predeceased by his wife Jean; survived by son Keith and wife Michelle; daughter Karen Luella; son Mark and partner Lauren; three grand-children Grace and partner Josh, Bobby and wife Louise, and Jack; and great-grandchild Hazel. 

 Assisting the family with arrangements is the Cremation Society of NH, Manchester. A Memorial Service will be held at the Deering Community Church in Deering, NH, for which a date will later be announced. In remembrance of Don, donations may be made to any cause or charity of your choice that furthers education or social justice. To view Don's Online Tribute, send condolences to the family, or for more information, visit www.csnh.com.