Helen Johnson, UCI Employee and Journalist, Dies at 71

Helen Johnson, a longtime Orange County journalist and UC Irvine public relations specialist, died Tuesday of cancer. She was 71.

In 1982, Johnson won the Orange County Press Club’s Sky Dunlap Award for career excellence and contribution to the community. Johnson worked as a reporter for the Orange County Register from 1948, when she came west from her native Pennsylvania, until 1953, when she joined the first group of Los Angeles Times reporters based in Orange County. At both newspapers she was a general assignment reporter but wrote often about education.

“She was one of the best reporters I worked with for a long time,” said former Times reporter Don Smith, who also worked with Johnson at the Register.

Also in 1982, Johnson received UCI’s Distinguished Staff member award, the highest given to university employees. She directed the university’s public information office from 1969 until 1983, when she retired.

“It was from Helen that I learned the importance of substance and accuracy in public relations as well as in journalism,” said Hilary Kaye, who worked with Johnson at UCI. “Those were her watchwords at UCI.”

Johnson graduated from Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pa., and earned a master’s degree in Latin American studies from USC. She traveled frequently and often led UCI Extension tours to Latin America.

She also was an active member of First Presbyterian Church in Santa Ana.

Funeral arrangements are pending. A memorial service will be announced within the next few weeks. Johnson is survived by a brother, Carl Johnson of Lake Arrowhead; and a sister, Hilda Holm of Laguna Niguel.