Edward Douglas Johnson Jr., a founder of a New Orleans-based investment banking firm who enjoyed spending his workdays in the middle of the nonstop buzz of the trading desk, died Wednesday at Ochsner Medical Center. He was 81.
Johnson, who helped launch Johnson Rice & Co. in June 1987, had suffered from several illnesses including leukemia, multiple myeloma and Parkinson’s disease, said Michael O. Read, his brother-in-law, who confirmed the death.
“He was happiest when he was sitting on the trading desk between Vinnie and Paul Varisco,” said Storey Charbonnet, Johnson Rice’s head of institutional sales. “That was his passion. He would come into his office, walk to the trading desk at 8:30 when the market opened and, when the market closed, go back to his office.”
“He was born to be a manager, and he loved the stock market,” said Tim Rice, a co-founder of Johnson Rice. “He paid attention to everyday details.”
“He was just a prince of a guy,” said Peggy Laborde, a longtime civic activist and friend. “He was an astute and honest businessman with a keen social conscience.”
At the same time, he always craved anonymity, Read said. “He was very low-key and preferred to fly below the radar. He would bow out before going into the limelight.”
A lifelong New Orleanian who never used his first name, Johnson graduated from St. Martin’s Episcopal School. He earned an undergraduate degree at the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s degree in business administration at Tulane University.
Johnson and Rice met in the mid-1960s at Howard, Weil, Labouisse, Friedrichs Inc., a stock brokerage founded in 1946 that morphed into a classic "boutique" investment bank with offices throughout the region.
By the early 1980s, Johnson and Rice were doing well with European business, but they were frustrated because they wanted a bigger say in day-to-day management, Rice said.
“We were feeling a little cocky because our business was good,” he said.
With encouragement from the stockbroker-philanthropist Richard Gilder and others, the pair started their own business with two secretaries, a trader and a research analyst.
They left Howard Weil on good terms, Rice said.
“I will never forget how nice the senior partners were to us when we decided to depart,” he said. “In fact, John Labouisse said, ‘Gee, I wish I could come with you.’ ”
Howard Weil was purchased by a Canadian bank in 2012 and closed its New Orleans office in 2020.
At its peak, Johnson Rice had about 70 employees, said Charbonnet, who estimated that it currently has a workforce of about 30. According to a company statement, Johnson Rice is “the longest-standing energy brokerage and investment firm in the United States.”
Rice left the firm in 1996 to start Rice Voelker LLC in what he described as “a great handshake departure.”
Johnson stayed on at the firm he helped launch, continuing to go into the office until his health began to fail a few months before his death, Read said.
“In spite of his condition, he never lost his sense of humor,” Rice said.
Survivors include his wife, Susan Read Johnson; three daughters, Courtney LeClercq of New Orleans, Leslie McClanahan of Corpus Christi, Texas, and Kelley Daniel of Austin; a sister, Glenn Brady of New Orleans; and eight grandchildren.
A Mass will be said Tuesday at noon at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartrain Blvd. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m.
