Roland Harbison Johnson, 77, a retired foundation executive, died Aug. 25 of esophageal cancer at his home in Mt. Airy.
Mr. Johnson retired in 2005 as director of the Grundy Foundation in Bristol. Earlier he had been corporate secretary and senior program officer at the William Penn Foundation and a program officer at the Cleveland Foundation,
Born in Cleveland, he graduated from Glenville High School in that city and Lincoln University. He served in the Peace Corps and was one of the first Peace Corps volunteers to work in Kenya shortly after its independence.
Mr. Johnson had served as board chairman of International Relief and Development Inc., a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization responsible for implementing relief and development programs worldwide. He had served as chairman of the National Peace Corps Association and was serving on the Peace Corps Advisory Council at the time of his death.
He had been a trustee of Lincoln University and had served on the boards of what was then Springside School, the Delaware Valley Grant Makers and the Returned Peace Corp Volunteers. He was a member of the Bristol Rotary Club.
Mr. Johnson was a founding member of the Association of Black Foundation Executives (AFBE).
He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Danette; a daughter Erica Card; a brother, James Johnson; sisters Savannah Harbison and Donna Kennedy; and two grandchildren.
Memorial donations may be made to the Roland Johnson Memorial Fund for Kenya, c/o the National Peace Corps Association’s Community Fund at www.peacecorpsconnect.org/campaigns. – WF
