The Founders

One thing is certain: the eponymous foundation carries the name of the British industrialist Stanley Thomas Johnson. Its establishment, however, cannot unequivocally be traced to him. It owes its existence to his wife, June Mary Johnson and his trustee Hugo Spühler. According to the latter’s own statement, it was he who persuaded the widow to leave the entire marital estate to a charitable foundation in her will. It stipulated that after her death the foundation should be set up in Bern and named after her deceased husband.

The Road to the Present

Stanley Thomas Johnson died in 1967 and left his entire estate to his wife June. She followed him in 1969, only two years later. Half a year after her death, the Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation already held its first meeting. According to June’s last will, the foundation was intended to fund the promotion of art, music, theatre, international aid, and disaster relief, as well as medical research. Its first decade, however, was shaped less by funding projects than by accomplishing the transfer of assets from June Johnson’s estate to the foundation’s control. Only in the course of the 1980s did the foundation begin to develop its full impact, financing increasing numbers of projects by various different organizations. Twenty years on, the support sector “Education” was added, which went on to fund scholarships and entire educational projects in the canton of Bern. In the 2000s the foundation also pursued collaborations with professional organizations whose expertise it could rely on when required. In the spirit of expert engagement, the foundation board phased out support for individual medical research projects in 2013 and instead initiated a sustained collaboration with the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences from 2014 -2018. In the area of education, the pilot project «2^nd Chance for a 1^st Education» was launched in 2016. From 2019 onwards the foundation is also supporting two projects for the health management of refugees by the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute. In the same year, it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.

Find out more about our history here.