Eunice Johnson, the widow of Ebony Magazine founder John H. Johnson and an icon in the world of fashion, has died, according to a published report.
Crain’s Chicago Business reported that Eunice Johnson died Sunday. She was in her 90s.
Eunice Johnson may have lived in the shadows of her powerful husband, but as CBS 2 reporter Lauren Green pointed out on May 27, 1994, building the Johnson publishing empire was a joint effort.
The magazine was John H. Johnson’s idea. Naming it Ebony was Mrs. Johnson’s.
“We both decided it was something we should do,” Mrs. Johnson said in 1994. “We both worked equally as hard at it, all the way.”
Johnson Publishing went on to become the largest African-American owned publishing company in the world. It included Ebony, Jet and Ebony Man magazines.
It also included the Fashion Fair Makeup Line, which Mrs. Johnson created.
Mrs. Johnson also produced and directed the Ebony Fashion Fair, a touring show she began in 1961. The show traveled through dozens of cities across the country and Canada, displaying high-end fashions to communities that the haute couture market was otherwise ignoring, Crain’s reported.
Johnson Publishing is now run by Mrs. Johnson’s daughter, Linda Johnson Rice.
