A 31-year-old AMG boutique's team is mourning a 26-year company veteran.

Gaylord "Rusty" Johnson III 1963-2020

Rusty Johnson, partner and PM/analyst at Bridgewater, New Jersey-based Harding Loevner [profile], died at home in Skillman, New Jersey, on May 28, at the age of 56. He had been fighting pancreatic cancer since 2018.

Gaylord "Rusty" Johnson III was born in Houston on August 31, 1963. After earning his bachelor's in economics from Washington & Lee University and studying abroad in Taiwan, he worked as a sell-side equities analyst for Chin Tung Futures (in Hong Kong), for Jardine Fleming (in Hong Kong, Bangkok, and New York), and Peregrine Brokerage (in New York).

Johnson joined Harding Loevner in 1994, and in 1998 he co-led the launch of the firm's new emerging markets strategy. He was the strategy's sole leader from 2004 to 2011, when he was joined by co-lead Craig Shaw. After he got sick in 2018, Johnson passed his co-leadership of the strategy to Scott Cranshaw while continuing to support the team as an analyst and partner.

"As sharp in wit as in research, his manner testified to the truth of the adage 'You can take a man out of Texas, but you can't take take the Texas out of the man,'" David Loevner (the firm's CEO) and Simon Hallett and Ferrill Roll (chief investment officers) shared last week via an open letter. "He spoke a native idiom rich in metaphorical references to steers, swamps, and armadillos that delight — and sometimes mystified — his colleagues."

"No one at Harding Loevner inspired more affection or respect from his colleagues," Hallett, Loevner, and Roll added. "We will sorely miss his warm presence and wise counsel."

Johnson was an avid fisherman, tennis player, animal lover, golfer, and grill chef.

Johnson is survived by his wife of 23 years, his two daughters, his mother, his step-mother, two brothers, his uncle, and his in-laws. In lieu of flowers, the family is directing donations to Homefront (in Lawrence Township, New Jersey), the Rusty Johnson '86 Endowment for Study Abroad at Washington & Lee (in Lexington, Virginia), and the Basser Center for BRCA at Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center.

The Mather-Hodge Funeral Home in Princeton, New Jersey is handling the arrangements. In Johnson's memory, the family also suggests enjoying a cold beer or wine, putting your feet up by an outdoor fire, and telling tales (especially of fishing or exotic street meals). 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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