David Johnson of Suttons Bay is currently the president-elect of Suttons Bay Rotary Club. He’s had a storied legal career practicing as a lawyer in three states, including Ohio, New Mexico, and Missouri, and up until the end of last year, he was actively maintaining a law practice.
Like many subjects of the People of the Peninsula series, David Johnson was born in Leelanau County, moved away, and then returned. However, Johnson admits he doesn’t remember anything from his start in northern Michigan, because while he was still “an infant” around the time of World War II when his family relocated to Cleveland, Ohio.
Johnson continued to revisit Leelanau County throughout his life to visit his brother-inlaw in Glen Arbor and his second home in Cedar, and he came back to live here full time about three years ago. When asked what brought him back to stay, Johnson cited the local music scene, the wineries, but above all, the area’s natural beauty.
“Well, it’s obviously one of the most beautiful places on earth. I love to do things outside. I’ve been a cyclist and have lots of great long-distance bike rides. I’ve ridden virtually the entire Santa Fe Trail, for example. I ride my bicycle with a group of guys. For many, many years, we’ve come here, and ridden here for a week every summer. We do loop rides, like a ride from here to the lighthouse and back,” Johnson said.
Incredibly, despite his long and successful legal career, Johnson said that going into law was his “plan B.” He originally planned to earn a doctorate in English and become a teacher like his father, who taught at Leelanau School.
However, Johnson was living in tumultuous times, and his desire to play an active role in current events gradually overtook his interest in studying and teaching English. Most of all, Johnson was interested in the struggle for racial equality and the civil rights movement championed by Martin Luther King, Jr.
Johnson wanted to help realize King’s dream of a country where “all men are created equal” by helping people exercise their right to vote as protected by recently passed legislation like the Voting Rights Act.
“One of the principle things was Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. That really motivated me,” Johnson said. “I went out and I went door-to-door in communities in Ohio registering people to vote, and I was very much involved in wanting to see a greater sense of peace and fairness and equality. I’ve always been concerned about equality and fairness, and I didn’t see it at the time, and I wanted to contribute to that. My way of choosing to do that was to register to vote, to get people involved in the community, and to try to do that myself.”
So, after graduating from Case Western Reserve University and while running his own law practice in Ohio, Johnson served as chief election officer in Geauga County for over 20 years. Johnson reflected that the right to vote continues to be a “tremendously important subject” today through talk about election security.
“From my own personal experience, every single election we had (in Geauga County) was free and fair, and I did everything I could to encourage people to vote and make it easier for them to vote,” Johnson said.
During his time practicing law in Ohio, Johnson found time for plenty of extracurricular activities. These included serving as an adjunct professor at Cleveland State University law school, earning a pilot’s license and helping form the Geauga County Airport Authority, and co-founding the Western Reserve Land Conservancy, which preserves 70,000 acres of land in Ohio today.
Later, Johnson moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and opened a new law practice there. He continued to be active in the community by serving on the boards for Santa Fe community colleges and helping start the El Rancho de las Golondrinas, a “living history museum” that is still open today.
Johnson also did pro bono work in Santa Fe around this time for people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, helping write wills and powers of attorney during the height of what was a global epidemic in the 1980s.
On top of this, Johnson married and raised two daughters, who eventually married and had families themselves. After she married, one of Johnson’s daughters moved to St. Louis and he decided to follow her there. Johnson continued practicing law in Missouri while earning an advanced law degree at Washington University, getting involved in the private banking sector, and maintaining his Santa Fe law practice from afar.
Eventually, his daughter moved from St. Louis to Suttons Bay and encouraged him to move back to the little peninsula when he was ready to retire. By May 2021, he was ready to start winding down and live in northern Michigan full time.
After learning about all these exploits, it may not surprise readers to learn that Johnson has been very active in retirement as well. Johnson said he’s been active in Rotary clubs since the 1980s, but he’s now president-elect of the Rotary Club of Suttons Bay. He takes over the gavel July 1.
“If you want to know what’s going on in your community, and you want to be involved with the people who are making it happen, you really ought to be involved in Rotary,” Johnson said about the organizations.
Johnson also serves on the board of directors for the Traverse City Symphony Orchestra, which recently changed its name to Traverse City Philharmonic.
