Edward Crosby "Ned" Johnson III, son of Fidelity Investments founder Edward C. Johnson Jr. and chairman emeritus of the behemoth Boston brokerage and mutual fund complex, died Wednesday evening.
Johnson's passing was announced in a LinkedIn post by his daughter and current Fidelity chairperson Abigail Johnson. That notice did not specify a cause of death.
Johnson was known as Ned. He steered Fidelity Investments to leadership in the mutual fund industry in roughly four decades at the company helm. On his watch, Fidelity's customer assets reportedly soared from $3.9 billion in 1972 to $2.1 trillion at his retirement as chairman in 2016. Assets under administration, in Fidelity's custody but not managed by the firm, were $5.7 trillion. Fidelity consistently gets rave ratings from Investor's Business Daily readers as a Best Online Brokerage.
His father established the firm in 1949. Founder Johnson died in 1984.
Fidelity Investments Leader Johnson Dies
Born June 29, 1930, Johnson 3d started his Fidelity Investments career as a research analyst in 1957.
He became portfolio manager for the Fidelity Trend Fund (FTRNX), which now has $3 billion in assets, in 1960. Johnson became the first manager of now-$27.8-billion Fidelity Magellan Fund (FMAGX) from 1963 to 1977. He became president of the company in 1972 and chairman and CEO in 1977.
"Though (Peter) Lynch became an industry star as Magellan's leader, the fund actually recorded its best year ever under the management of Mr. Johnson," Abigail Johnson wrote.
Johnson is credited with pioneering the practice of check writing against money market fund balances. He also emphasized direct sale of mutual funds to shareholders, bypassing brokers.
Under Johnson, Fidelity Investments became a leader in the market for 401(k) retirement accounts.
Johnson named Abigail chief executive in 2014. In 2016, he said he would retire that December and hand the chairman's gavel to Abigail.
His other two children are Elizabeth and Edward.
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