Artist: John Boyd Martin (born 1936)
Frederick Hurst Johnson Jr.
JOHNSON, FREDERICK HURST JR. (1916–2007), inducted 1999
Fred Johnson established Summitcrest Farms in Summitville, Ohio, in 1947—with cattle breeding operations in three states and a genetics company in Montana, but it was not until his 1982 retirement that he focused on livestock production. With an engineering degree from Pennsylvania State University and an entrepreneurial heritage, Johnson’s primary career in family businesses (chinaware, brick, and tile) spanned five decades. He earned both the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star in World War II. Johnson was distinguished in the livestock industry as well, holding leadership roles with the American Angus Association, Ohio Angus Association, and Ohio Beef Council. In 1985, he was appointed to the National Beef Promotion and Research Board, which he chaired. There, he and Mick Colvin (also an inductee) co-founded the Certified Angus Beef program. Nominated to both the American Angus Heritage Foundation Hall of Fame and the Ohio Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1989, he was named Man of the Decade by Angus News the following year. At about the same time, he was the Beef Improvement Federation’s Seedstock Producer of the Year.
Fred Johnson retired from Summitcrest in 1995, with his children taking over the reins, and he established a second home at Loup River Ranch, near Milburn, Nebraska. In 1998, the Johnson family was selected as one of eight Cattle Businesses of the Century. Fred Johnson was honored with the National Beef Industry Vision Award in 2007, the year of his death.
Source: Saddle & Sirloin Guidebook 2026, p. 118