Legal Practice Hall of Fame Class of 2023: Ronald P. Johnson
Ronald P. Johnson grew up in Clinton, South Carolina and earned both his undergraduate and law degrees from the University of South Carolina. Upon graduation from law school in 1974, he was admitted to the North Carolina Bar and began practicing with the law firm of Jordan, Wright, Nichols & Caffrey in Greensboro, primarily in the areas of estate planning, estate administration, business law and nonprofit organizations law. He became a Board-Certified Specialist in Estate Planning and Probate Law in 1987. In 1995, he helped found the Greensboro law firm which ultimately became Johnson, Peddrick & McDonald, PLLC. In October 2021, that law firm was dissolved, and Mr. Johnson and his partners joined the Carruthers & Roth, P.A. law firm in Greensboro, where Mr. Johnson still actively practices.
Ron Johnson is well known in Guilford County and throughout much of North Carolina for his diligent work ethic and generosity to many local and national civic groups and charities. He has been particularly active in the areas of LGBTQ+ rights, AIDS education, women’s issues and hospice care for the terminally ill. He is a trusted adviser to many charitable organizations as well as to hundreds of loyal and grateful clients. He is a longtime member of the Greensboro Bar Association and the North Carolina Bar Association and has received awards from each of them, the GBA Pro Bono Award in 2004 and the NCBA Centennial Award in 2015 for outstanding and exemplary community service. He has been a member of the Greensboro Estate Planning Council since its formation in 1980 and served as a Board member in 1995-2004 and as its President in 2002-2003. For his outstanding leadership and service, Ron Johnson has received awards or recognition from numerous groups and organizations, including the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro (the Thornton Brooks Leadership Award for outstanding leadership in the community), Triad Health Project, Family Service of the Piedmont, Guilford Green Foundation, Human Rights Campaign, Planned Parenthood, AuthoraCare Collective, Women’s Resource Center of Greensboro, and the Greensboro Commission on the Status of Women. He was recognized in March 2023 in a local newspaper feature article for having raised more than $1 million for Triad Health Project since 1986, and he was the recipient of the Greensboro Philanthropist of the Year Award in 2017 from the Triad Society of Professional Fundraisers.