David Chester Johnson
David Chester Johnson, age 92 of Minneapolis, Minnesota, passed away Saturday, July 5, 2025.
Visitation for David Johnson will be held Tuesday, July 15, 2025, from 11:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. at Central Lutheran Church, 333 S. 12th Street in Minneapolis, MN.
Funeral services for David Chester Johnson will be at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, at Central Lutheran Church, 333 S. 12th Street in Minneapolis, MN, and reception following.
David Chester Johnson, born in Grand Rapids, MN, to Chester and Olga (Resnick) Johnson on January 21, 1933. He graduated from Grand Rapids High School in 1950, Gustavus Adolphus College in 1954, and an M.A., Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Iowa in 1956 and 1959. He and Gustavus classmate Jean Lunnis of Minneapolis were married in 1955. They became the parents of Stephen, Andrew, and Jennifer.
His career includes founding the Department of Sociology at Luther College, where he taught from 1957-1969, East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania Dean of Arts and Sciences 1969-1976, St. Cloud State University Vice President for Academic Affairs 1976-1983, Gustavus Adolphus College Dean of the College 1983-1990, and Chancellor of the University of Minnesota Morris (UMM) 1990-1998.
During his career, he was the recipient of a National Science Foundation Science Faculty Fellowship to the Norwegian Institute for Alcohol Research in Oslo, a Kennedy Fellowship for research on immigration to Sweden, and the presidency of the Elder Learning Institute (now Osher Lifelong Learning Institute). He and Jean teamed with Luther colleagues and Norwegian friends to lead seven hiking groups in Norway and Sweden and later three such trips in Romania’s Transylvanian mountains. He called those treks “liberal arts on the hoof” and “spartan days and decadent nights.” In retirement, he has served as consultant to the international offices in the universities of Oslo, Bergen, and Tromso in Norway, Malmo and Kristianstad in Sweden, and Tampere in Finland as well the Fulbright offices in Oslo and Helsinki.
Survived by his son: Stephen (Deborah) Johnson; and his daughter: Jennifer (Peter) Zuppan; grandchildren: Jordan Hout, Karl Zuppan, and Kirsten Zuppan; his brother: Kent (Birgit) Johnson; nephew: Eric; niece: Kristina (James) DuBoulay and their sons Joseph and Erik; his cousins and foreign exchange student “Norwegian daughter” Marit (Jan) Koren.
He was preceded in death by both parents in 1977; his wife: Jean in 1996; son: Andy in 2015.
In lieu of flowers, gifts are welcome to the donor’s choice or to the Central Lutheran Foundation, Luther College for its Luther Fund, Gustavus Adolphus College for the David C. Johnson Scholarship Endowment Fund, or the UMN Morris David C. Johnson Fund for International Service Learning.
His body has been donated to the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Anatomy Bequest Program, with eventual burial next to Jean at the Lutheran Cemetery in Decorah, Iowa.
