Dr. Charles Earl Memusi Johnson March 18, 2021 - This was "the end of the day" for our father, Dr. Charles Earl Memusi Johnson. That's how he referred to passing from this life to return to the Ancient Home from whence we came.

Charles, after a fascinating, adventurous, and pioneering life full of singular accomplishments, passed away at age 87 in Vermont with his daughter, Christina, at his side.

Charles attended DuSable High School on the South Side of Chicago where he was born, and became the first in his family not only to complete college. He graduated from Roosevelt University in Chicago and went on to earn a doctoral degree at the University of Vienna in Austria. While attending Roosevelt University, Charles was initiated into the Alpha Rho Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc., (ΚΑΨ) on 24 July, 1953, and was an active member there.

He lived in America, Europe, and Africa; and served in the Military Intelligence Corps, a branch of the United States Army, during the Cold War. Subsequently, while employed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, he was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency as an espionage agent, for which he worked during the JFK Administration. He was fluent in Russian and German, and became a notable German-language stage, film, and television actor while a student in Vienna.

Later, he was a professor at Lovanium University in Congo-Leopoldville and at Boston College, taught at the Harvard University Business School, was a Vice President of Academic Affairs at the University of Cincinnati, worked as a consultant for the global business advisory firm Arthur D. Little; and was appointed as the first African-American Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Charles later played a vital role consulting and assisting the State of Vermont Department of Education to promote its Safe Schools Initiative. Even at the age of 87, he still taught a course at Dartmouth College Osher Institute.

Above all, Dr. Charles Earl Memusi Johnson was our Dad, a beacon in our lives, who, along with our Mom, Marianne Kaufmann Johnson (deceased), helped raise us and place us on a blessed trajectory that, in turn, was a continuation of the roles our grandparents played. He was preceded in death by his parents, William Lucius Johnson and Ellee Mitchell Johnson (daughter of Henry and Louisa Mitchell) and his wife Joan McNear Johnson.

Charles is survived by five children, six grandchildren, and four great grandchildren. There is so much more to share about this man. He will be dearly missed, yet his memory will live through the stories and words people share.

A memorial service for Dr. Charles E. Johnson will be held on Monday, September 20, 2021, at 1:30PM at the Thetford Community Center, 3923 VT113, Thetford, VT, followed by a military honor at 2:30PM at the Evergreen Rest Cemetery (across the street). The family asks that if you plan to attend to please RSVP to Christina Johnson at christinajohnsonvt@gmail.com

The Rand-Wilson Funeral Home is assisting the family