A Modest Man Leaves Behind a Rich Legacy

The boiler operator’s gift took most of his life to save. Yet rather than give the money to estranged relatives, he bequeathed it to the university that had become his second home.

A tall man with a thin mustache, thick wavy hair and an unassuming demeanor, C.R. Johnson mastered the principle of saving more than he spent.

He lived in a modest house in Arleta, sipped McDonald’s coffee for breakfast and invested much of his state-employee salary in government securities. His one indulgence was a late-model Lincoln Mark VIII that he drove to lunch at an all-you-can-eat restaurant every so often.

For more than two decades, it was Johnson’s job to keep the power flowing on the 353-acre campus of Cal State Northridge. But he did much more.

The boiler operator--dressed in workpants, shirt and shoes--approached mechanical engineering professor Tim Fox in the late 1970s and floated an idea for a campus cogeneration facility. His idea called for using excess steam from the boiler plant to generate electricity for the campus and, eventually, the neighborhood.

Johnson and Fox enlisted engineering students to draft preliminary plans. The team won a state research grant and got technical support from a Rocketdyne engineer.

Although the project never got off the ground, the discussions set into motion hands-on learning and energy conservation programs that remain in place.

“It’s one thing to learn the theory, but it’s very important to have hands-on experience,” said John Guarrera, director of the Center for Research and Services at the campus College of Engineering and Computer Science.

“When the mechanical engineering students go into the power plant, they get a sense of the magnitude of the machinery,” he added. “Before C.R.’s idea, students relied on pictures and videos.”

During those plant tours, Johnson peppered his talks with anecdotes about his time spent in Oklahoma oil fields and on offshore drilling platforms, as well as a stint in the Navy. Beyond that, he rarely talked about himself.

Even after Johnson retired in 1983, he still drove the Mark VIII to campus and took Guarrera out for chicken livers at the all-you-can-eat lunch buffet.

On one of those campus visits, Johnson mentioned to Guarrera and Fox that he wanted to bequeath his estate to the engineering school within the College of Engineering and Computer Science. He wanted to know how to make the gift. Because the school would be the benefactor, Guarrera thought it best that the arrangements be handled by a private attorney.

Johnson contacted Van Nuys lawyer John Garvin, who drew up the papers. All the while, Johnson continued to lunch now and then with Guarrera, a respite from the round-the-clock care of his invalid wife, Ila, who died in April 1990.

His devotion to her became public after he told Fox and Guarrera that he intended to fund a $1,500 engineering scholarship in her honor. At an awards ceremony, he let Fox give the scholarship while he stood in the back of the room.

After Ila’s death, Johnson spent mornings sipping coffee with his breakfast bunch at McDonald’s, never letting on about the size of his estate.

Then this fall, Johnson’s friends became concerned when he didn’t show up for coffee for a few mornings. They called his house. No answer. They pounded on the door. No response. They called the police. Officers forced open the door and found Johnson in bed, apparently having died in his sleep.

Shortly after his death in October, Guarrera and Fox received a copy of Johnson’s will and the trust fund he had established for the college. Guarrera and Fox were named trustees of the estate.

“We were totally surprised by the amount of the gift,” Guarrera said. “I figured he must have had something saved up, but the magnitude of the gift was a surprise to everyone on campus.”

Johnson had left the school $700,000.

The money, the largest individual gift in the engineering and computer science college’s history, will be used to fund two $1,500 scholarships annually, one each named for C.R. Johnson and Ila Johnson. As the fund grows, money will be used to enhance mechanical engineering and energy conservation programs.

Johnson’s gift has inspired faculty and staff members to consider making contributions to the college, said Tammy I. Glenn, director of development and public relations for the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

“There is more of an awareness of the impact you can make on your work environment,” she said. “He was your average state employee, but he has a huge impact here.”

The College of Engineering and Computer Science acknowledged the gift in November by renaming one of its facilities the C.R. and Ila Johnson Memorial Engineering Auditorium, honoring the boiler operator’s legacy in bronze letters.