Rob Johnston honored for giving back to Aiken

Dec. 25—There are many words that are used to describe Rob Johnston by those who know him well.

"Generous," "kind," "mentor," "faithful" and "servant leader" are often associated with Johnston.

In recent years, the successful businessman has given back to Aiken in many ways with his philanthropic efforts to help Children's Place, Aiken Streetscapes and St. Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church, among others. For those efforts, he is the Aiken Standard's Person of the Year for 2022.

"He's generous," said Dacre Stoker, who has worked closely with Johnston on the Aiken Streetscapes project to catalog and protect the city's grand trees and parkways. "Not just financially, he's generous with his time, his spirit. He's a kind and generous person."

That's a common theme from those who have worked alongside Johnston.

"Every time I've met him he is kind, whether he is giving me a check or bringing by coats," said Peggy Ford, executive director of Children's Place. "He's just a kind, gentle person."

Johnston, 76, grew up in Aiken and wound up in Atlanta for his professional career. He enjoyed much success and was along for the ride as Atlanta grew by leaps and bounds and became an international city complete with a stint as host for the Olympic Games. But in the mid-2000s, he decided to return to the place that made such an impression during his formative years.

"I said I need to move back to Aiken to get back to my roots and try to be more giving as a person," Johnston said.

Early years

Johnston's father was an engineer and took a job with DuPont at the Savannah River Plant. The Johnston family lived in Crosland Park before moving to Aiken Estates.

A Catholic, he began attending classes at St. Mary Help of Christians school. That's where he established lifelong friendships with Mike Hosang and Pat Cunning, two successful and prominent Aikenites.

After graduating from Aiken High School, Johnston headed off to the University of South Carolina.

"When I left for USC, it was like going from a little piece of paradise to a big city," he said. "I struggled with that, because Aiken is so protective. I soon found my wings there."

Although he had never played football, Johnston wound up helping some of the Gamecock football players with their studies.

"I was pretty good at math, and I volunteered with the athletic department to help tutor the jocks," Johnston said. "I went over there, and the coach that was assigned to help me communicate with these players was the freshman coach. His name was Lou Holtz. So, I got to be great pals with Lou, and then he went off to bigger things."

After college, Johnston spent several years in the military.

"I went into the Air Force because I was ROTC, and that gave me some starch in my backbone," he said.

After leaving the military, he headed to Atlanta.

"My father took my brother and I there to watch Georgia Tech and Auburn play every year. He went to Auburn," he said.

"I had never traveled. I never went anywhere in grade school or high school. I thought Atlanta was like paradise. It was that, and more."

Atlanta years

He started out in banking "by chance," he said.

"They put me in real estate lending, and that led to so many different education opportunities that the bank paid for," he said. "After about five years with the bank I felt sufficiently cocky in 1978 to start my own company. It was borderline stupid because I thought it was going to be handed to me."

That wasn't the case, and Johnston said he struggled for a few months before a Lake Tahoe rancher got him involved in apartment management.

"He was kind enough to get me my first piece of business in apartment management, 500 units in Atlanta," Johnston said. "And I piddled with that for about a year and decided this is OK, this is pretty darn good."

With a change in tax laws and a booming Atlanta population, Johnston saw his business take off. The city grew from just under 2 million in the late 1970s to more than 5 million now.

"I was so lucky and fortunate," he said. "People started flocking to the apartments. All of a sudden, they were in demand."

Johnston traces his first efforts at charity to 1978, the year he formed First Communities.

"When I was in the Air Force, I gave to charities because that's what you were supposed to do," he said.

"We had 450 apartment units, and everyone knows there's a hunger problem. So, I said we'll do a food drive."

His initial effort yielded about 300 cans, a far cry from what he had hoped . He told area churches that the food was available at the apartment complex.

"I was there when the first couples came in," he recalled. "They asked me are you the people giving away the food? Embarrassed, I said 'Yes, it's not much.' They started crying. They hadn't eaten in four or five days."

His employees saw what had happened and were spurred into action.

"That was the glue that made my company successful," Johnston said. "We now had a culture of giving back. It's far stronger than money. Noble causes always excel over money."

The food drive reached 100,000 cans in just a couple of years, and as president of the Atlanta Apartment Association he grew the food drive even further.

"We had a competition, and the first year we did a million cans," he said. "By the time I left, we were told we were the largest private food drive in the country. We did 6 million cans each year."

That effort led Johnston to a friendship with Bill Bolling, the founder and executive director of Atlanta Community Food Bank and Georgia Food Bank Network.

He said Johnston was the man who made it all happen.

"There's got to be a visionary, that's Rob," he said. "A guy that leads by example, and that's also Rob. And there has to be someone to push that rock up the hill. And again, that's Rob."

Bolling said Johnston was not afraid to put in sweat equity with the food drives and called him a "servant leader."

"The question we always ask when someone comes in with an idea: Where do I belong in this story?" Bolling said. "The thing Rob does is find a place for you to belong."

Influential friends

Johnston said that two men during his time in Atlanta helped shape his life. The first was Billy Payne. The former University of Georgia football star was a mover and shaker in Atlanta.

"We were fishing one day, and this was in 1987, and he said, 'Rob, I'm going to try to bring the Summer Olympics to Atlanta in 1996,'" Johnston recalled.

"It was so audacious, ridiculous. But I never underestimated Billy Payne," Johnston said. "I was by his side that entire time for that 10-year run, 1987 to 1996. Atlanta went through the roof with population, job growth and being on the international stage. What an incredible ride."

Tom Cousins was the other influence. The developer wanted Johnston's help with a big PGA Tour event that was coming to East Lake Golf Club, which is where Masters Tournament co-founder Bobby Jones learned to play the game.

"I said why don't you get Billy Payne to run it, and I'll come over and help Billy and bring some other Olympic volunteers," Johnston said. "So that's what happened."

Eventually Payne became chairman of Augusta National Golf Club and the Masters, and Johnston moved into the chairman's role for the Tour Championship at East Lake. He got to see first-hand as Cousins transformed the community surrounding East Lake, turning it from a blighted area into one of the most desirable areas in the state of Georgia.

"He was as influential in my life as much or more than Billy," Johnston said of Cousins. "Billy was leadership and charisma, he was spirituality. He had an inner strength in his religion that he just willed ... not only was the tournament successful, but he ended up rehabilitating a huge area of East Lake."

Earlier this year, Johnston made a $1.1 million donation through the East Lake Foundation to create a student leadership and service program at Drew Charter School. Naturally, he named the program in honor of Cousins and Payne.

Catherine Woodling, chief operating officer of the foundation, has worked alongside Johnston for many years.

"Mr. Johnston has not only been a philanthropic treasure, but he volunteers for us and connects us with other resources," she said. "He gets to know students and families, and all of the benefits East Lake Foundation provides."

Drew Charter School is located in the East Lake area, and is Atlanta's oldest charter school. The program will help students with hands-on leadership training opportunities as well as scholarships. It's similar to what Johnston has done for so many others.

"Personally, he's been a mentor for me," Woodling said. "I've appreciated that aspect of him."

Aiken Streetscapes

Johnston's family lived in Aiken Estates when he was a child, and he fondly remembers the big trees from that neighborhood.

"That was part of Hitchcock Woods, and my front yard had these huge longleaf pine trees," he said. "I had never seen a pine tree in Savannah. I was enthralled."

He also had a paper route that took him down South Boundary with its magnificent oaks.

When Johnston and his wife, Pam, moved back to Aiken in 2006, he soon noticed that many of the grand trees were in trouble. Age and disease were the primary culprits.

He researched the history and found that Henry Dibble and Julian Salley had planted many of Aiken's grand trees at the turn of the 20th century. After consulting with city officials, Johnston and others formed a public-private initiative known as Aiken Streetscapes. A tree study was funded by Johnston, and more than 26,000 trees throughout Aiken were assessed.

Stoker, now executive director of Aiken Streetscapes, isn't surprised by Johnston's call to action.

"It's very typical of Rob in general," Stoker said. "He's a man who has a great sense of community, and contributing to his community. When he came back here, he looked at things and said how can I make them better? He respects the great history of Aiken."

Stoker said the City of Aiken has "upped its game," including two dedicated pruning units that can do proactive maintenance on the grand trees.

"He wants others to get involved, and it makes his donation go a little further," Stoker said.

Johnston now lives on South Boundary. From the side porch, the place he calls his "sanctuary," he can enjoy the live oaks that were planted by visionary men more than a century ago.

"The point we learned was nothing lives forever," Johnston said. "I'm not here to say this live oak in my yard is going to live another 150 years. I'm here to say we're going to do everything we can to nurture it, to prune it, to take care of it. And when nature calls its final day for that tree, we'll plant another one. And we're going to plant a grand tree and watch it grow for the next generation."

Children's Place

When Johnston heard that a fundraising drive for Children's Place had stalled, he told his wife they needed to act.

"I told Pam we've got no choice, we've got to get involved," he said.

You'll notice that Johnston always includes his wife. The couple will celebrate 25 years of marriage in January, he said.

"She's my best friend, and I'm her biggest supporter and she's mine," he said. "I probably got ahead of my skis living in Atlanta, running with a fast crowd, and she was from Columbus, via Fort Gaines, a very small farming community."

Johnston said his wife is "very grounded" in family and "simple things that make you happy."

"It was good for me to ask her to marry me and help change me into a more peaceful, sincere person than I ever was," he said.

Their gift of $1.5 million to Children's Place was announced in late 2021, and in the summer of this year ground was broken at the site of the proposed new building.

"It's hard to put into words what it really meant to us," said Peggy Ford, the executive director. "It totally changed the trajectory of getting that building done."

The new building will be much bigger than the current location. It will help the organization's mission of helping children and families deal with the "impact of trauma and other adverse experiences."

Ronnie Maxwell, the project's fundraising chairman, said the gift from the Johnstons "excited us, encouraged us, gave us hope and strength for this last push."

In his typical way, Johnston deflected any credit headed his way.

"We haven't done anything but come in at the bottom of the ninth inning, and so the people who've done the first eight and a half innings, we love y'all dearly," Johnston said at the groundbreaking ceremony. "We respect what you have done and we are thrilled to be a little, tiny piece of this."

While the amount donated was substantial, Ford said Johnston's gift was "more than money."

"He's interested in our program," she said. "He wasn't just being generous. It went beyond being generous with his money."

St. Mary's

Johnston has remained faithful to his Catholic roots. Through his late mother, Shirley, he was connected to Father Gregory Wilson, the current priest at St. Mary Help of Christians Catholic Church.

"He was inspired by his time at St. Mary's," Wilson said. "He felt he had such a good preparation, not just education, which was excellent, but he remembered that moral foundation he got here. And the prayer foundation that he got here. From that he was inspired to give back."

When St. Mary's built its new church on Fairfield Street, Johnston helped fund the stained glass windows.

"He dedicated St. John the Baptist window to his mom," Wilson said. "And then when we were starting the lower windows, the 16 windows on the life of Christ, and he is the one who helped us get them so they could be installed all at once, which was beautiful."

Johnston didn't stop there. Thanks to his work at East Lake and with the Drew Charter School, he came up with an idea to start a STEM school at St. Mary's.

"We see what disadvantaged children can do when they're given a leg up," Johnston said. "I asked if he would be interested if we could do something at St. Mary's? (Children) have this innate ability to do a cell phone and spreadsheets and calculations, and I said I think we can do that here if you're open."

Wilson and Laura Webster, principal of St. Mary's school, enthusiastically agreed.

With a sizable donation from the Johnstons, fundraising is underway for the St. Mary Help of Christians Catholic School Science and Engineering Academy. It will be located next to the current school at the corner of York Street and Richland Avenue. Plans call for ground to be broken in the spring and open in the fall of 2024.

"We see the potential, not only for the current students we have, but for the community itself," Wilson said. "With such a top-notch center, we want to have some community outreach and availability."

On a recent morning, Johnston and Wilson met at the site of the future building. Johnston eagerly told the priest about his memories of attending grade school and pointed out the classrooms he attended.

"He just has a wonderful vision," Wilson said. "He may feel he's older, but he has this energy and drive. He has an awakening in him of wanting to give back, such a beautiful thing."

'Always give back'

No story about Johnston is complete without mentioning two of the activities he enjoys most: court tennis and golf.

"Those are my two passions here," he said.

Johnston and Stoker regularly get together to play court tennis at the Aiken Tennis Club on Newberry Street. Johnston also has been a staunch supporter of Camden Riviere, a world champion in court tennis.

With golf, Johnston can usually be found on weekend afternoons at Palmetto Golf Club. He's also a member at Augusta National Golf Club, where he serves on the media committee. It's not unusual to see him at the podium next to some of the world's top golfers as he facilitates their interviews with the media.

That intersection of golf and Aiken led Johnston to serve on the Kisner Foundation's board. He's proud that he helped pro golfer Kevin Kisner and his wife, Brittany, raise a large amount of money in a short period of time to fund a center for pediatric development, behavioral health and wellness at Children's Hospital of Georgia.

The Johnstons have contributed to many other causes in Aiken, including the Aiken County Public Library. The recent renovations include a gallery room sponsored by them.

"It's never about the money. It's about the heart," he said. "The joy, watching the kids read. Everything in Atlanta is big and faceless. To be here and see it, I'm very blessed."

One belief, instilled by his mother, is to "bring everyone along somehow."

"I do think there are numbers of people who get so occupied with their own backyard, they may not have time to look beyond," he said. "I don't know how to encourage them, but they're missing out on the best parts of life."

While others have used one or two words to describe Johnston — "generous," "kind," "mentor," "faithful," and "servant leader" — Johnston cannot define himself with just a couple of words.

"I don't have one word; I have a saying," he said. "Always give back — never give up, give out or give in. And I try to run my company that way. Be diligent. Be steadfast. Be disciplined. Stick to it.

"Nothing great comes easy. And I'm going to keep in there until I can't physically do it, but that's my attitude on life."