| Birth Name: | Edward Crosby Johnson II |
| Birth Date: | 19 January 1898 |
| Birth Place: | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Death Place: | Cataumet, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Alma Mater: | Harvard University |
| Occupation: | Businessman |
| Relatives: | Abigail Johnson (granddaughter) |
Edward Crosby Johnson II (January 19, 1898 – April 2, 1984) was an American businessman and lawyer who founded Fidelity Investments.
“A Boston Brahmin, Mr. Johnson was born Edward Crosby Johnson 2d in a townhouse on Beacon street, Back Bay, on Jan. 19, 1898, the son of Samuel Johnson, a partner in a leading dry-goods firm C.F. Hovey and Co. and Josephine (Forbush) Johnson.”[1] Johnson came from a family of New England Puritan ancestry.[2]
He graduated from Milton Academy in 1916, Harvard College in 1920, and Harvard Law School in 1924.[3] [4] [5] Also in 1924, he became involved in stock market research.[6] Diana B. Henriques wrote in 1995: "...those who knew Ed Johnson sensed...an openness to the new and the exotic. Most of all, there was a very un-Bostonian passion for the quick, rude, sharp-witted world of Wall Street."
In May 1930 he was granted permission to start “The Fidelity Fund”by John C. Hull, serving as the President, Vice President and Treasurer. [7] [8]
In 1946, he founded Fidelity Management and Research, and he served as its chairman.[6] By 1958, Johnson managed over $400 million combined with $357 million in the Fidelity Fund and $59 million in his new Puritan Fund. Beginning in 1969, Johnson chaired the board of Fidelity Management and Research.
He died in Cataumet, Massachusetts of Alzheimer's disease in 1984, and his funeral was held at Milton's Universalist First Parish Church.[6]
. Fidelity's World: The Secret Life and Public Power of the Mutual Fund Giant . Scribner . 1995 . 0-684-81299-1 . New York . Diana B. Henriques.
After graduating from Harvard Law, Johnson became an associate at Boston law firm Ropes, Gray, Boyden & Perkins.