B. Ed Johnson

Who is B. Ed Johnson?

Benjamin Edward Johnson, known as B. Ed Johnson, was a businessman, broadcaster and politician in the U.S state of Georgia. He resided in Columbus in Muscogee County.

Johnson was born in 1914 to Edward Burton and Pamelia Weldon Johnson. His father was also a prominent citizen of the city, serving as the city's Superintendent of Public Works in the 1930s. B. Ed attended public schools in Columbus and married Martha Louise Noble in 1939. He was elected as a democrat to the Georgia State Senate's 24th district in 1946, the youngest state senator ever at the time of that particular district. He was named mayor pro tempore of Columbus in 1960, serving for one year. Previously, he had served as secretary and city commissioner of Columbus. He was then returned to the mayor's office in 1965, but this time by registered voters in the city of Columbus, becoming the first elected mayor of the city. At some time during his tenure, the Miss Georgia USA beauty pageant, which he helped lay the foundation for, came to Columbus. He was succeeded as mayor by J. R. Allen in 1968.

Johnson worked at the exchange in Fort Benning, Georgia, along with oil and lumber companies, in 1951 as salesmanager of the Columbus Broadcasting Company and around 1959 a manager of Westad, a distributor of electronics. He was voted as Columbus' outstanding citizen of the year in 1946.