Johnson, Howard

Johnson, Howard (Deering)

(1896–1972) business executive; born in Boston, Mass. Uneducated beyond elementary school, he developed 28 flavors of ice cream for his Wollaston, Mass., drugstore soda fountain and by 1929 was franchising his name and products. He won exclusive catering rights on thousands of miles of East Coast highways and built the country's largest private food distribution corporation before retiring in 1959.