Jay Johnson

This may not be a UP story but than maybe it is. Jay Johnson was a Bessemer, MI native. A Yooper!!

Former U.S. Rep Jay Johnson, a longtime Green Bay TV news anchor, died Saturday at his suburban Washington, D.C., home of an apparent heart attack.

Mr. Johnson, 66, had a 32-year journalism career that included work as news anchor at WFRV-TV from 1980 to 1986 and WLUK-TV from 1987 to his election to Congress in 1996.

In 2000, Jay Johnson was appointed director of the U.S. Mint by President Bill Clinton and served two years. In 1988 he received the Outstanding Citizen of the Year Award from Washington Lodge 21 of the Green Bay Masons for his work with Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Family Violence Center.

When Jay Johnson was director of the US Mint, Dave and I had a chance to visit his office with a old friend of Jay's. Jay took us to lunch in the Congressional Dining room in the Capitol Building. That is something that I will never forget and it shows what a special Yooper Jay was.

We'll keep him and his family in our prayers.