August Edgar Johansen

Washington Post, The (DC) - April 18, 1995

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Deceased Name: AUGUST JOHANSEN DIES AT 89 WAS MICHIGAN CONGRESSMAN

August Edgar Johansen, 89, a Michigan Republican who served in the House of Representatives for a decade before being defeated for reelection in 1964, died April 16 at a nursing home in Orlando. He had Alzheimer's disease

In his last session of Congress, he was one of the most determined non-southern opponents of civil rights legislation. During his years in Florida, he was a frequent conservative voice on issues in the area.

Mr. Johansen, an ordained Congregational minister who had lived in Florida since the mid-1960s, was born in Philadelphia and raised in Battle Creek, Mich. After graduating from the University of Chicago in 1926, he worked as a pastor in Chicago and then as a journalist and minister in Michigan.

From 1934 to 1944, he was industrial relations manager of Kellogg Co. in Battle Creek. He later was an editorial writer and editor of Michigan papers before serving as an administrative assistant to Rep. Paul W. Shafer (R-Mich.) from 1951 to 1954.

His wife, Beatrice, died in 1970. Survivors include three daughters, Sally L. Higby and Mary J. Buckler, both of Clearwater Beach, Fla., and Nancy J. Beckett, of Ridgefield, Conn.; eight grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. A daughter, Judith Rush, died in 1980. MARVEL HELEN HOLT

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Washington Post, The (DC)

Date: April 18, 1995

Edition: FINAL

Page: C5

Record Number: 644843

Copyright (c) 1995 The Washington Post

JOHANSEN, August Edgar

(1905-1995)

JOHANSEN, August Edgar, a Representative from Michigan; born in Philadelphia, Pa., July 21, 1905; attended the public schools in Battle Creek, Mich.; attended Olivet (Mich.) College in 1922 and 1923, and Western Michigan College of Education in Kalamazoo in 1923 and 1924; graduated from the University of Chicago in 1926; reporter with the Battle Creek Moon-Journal during the summers 1922-1927; minister of the Seventh-day Baptist Church in Chicago, Ill., and Congregational Church, Bedford, Mich., 1924-1934; manager of industrial relations of the Kellogg Co., Battle Creek, Mich., 1934-1944; editorial writer for the Battle Creek Enquirer-News, 1944-1948; editor of the Lakeview News and news editor on radio, 1944-1951; member of the Calhoun County Tax Allocation Board in 1949 and 1950; administrative assistant to Representative Paul W. Shafer 1951-1954; elected as a Republican to the Eighty-fourth and to the four succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1955-January 3, 1965); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1964 to the Eighty-ninth Congress; executive vice president, Robert A. Taft Institute of Government, 1966-1967; lecturer and writer; died April 16, 1995.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present