Covenant minister and president emeritus of Covenant Trust Company LeRoy M. Johnson died February 8, 2025. He was 92.
LeRoy was born in the Red River Valley of Minnesota to Ruth and Arthur Johnson on October 8, 1932. He attended a one-room schoolhouse until high school when he went to boarding school at the Crookston Agricultural Academy. He graduated from North Park Junior College and completed his college education at the University of Minnesota. He went on to attend North Park Theological Seminary, graduating with his MDiv in 1960. While in seminary he met Carole Johansson, and they were married upon his graduation from seminary and hers from nurse training on June 11, 1960. They were married for more than 58 years, until her death in 2018.
LeRoy married Marge Elowson on October 12, 2019.
He served Lily Lake Covenant Church in Lily Lake, Illinois, for three years before returning to North Park to work in the development office under President Karl Olsson, later becoming the director of development. He went on to receive education at Harvard University in estate planning and engaged in a partnership between North Park University, the Evangelical Covenant Church, and Covenant Ministries of Benevolence, which began as Estate Planning Services and eventually became Covenant Trust Company. LeRoy served as the founding president. He worked closely with Sam Papanek of Erickson Papanek law offices, his longtime executive assistant Patty Conrad, and Paul Lindeman of Estate Planning Services to bring the dream to fruition. It was the first trust company owned by a charity in the country. Presently Covenant Trust has over $2 billion under advisement, and they have distributed over $273 million in charitable funds.
LeRoy loved his work and was honored to serve these Covenant institutions, using his skill in meeting people where they were and strategically planning for their future to include their charitable and practical interests. He was named president emeritus in 1995, and though he stepped away from the daily operations, he continued many of the relationships he had established, working with a number of Covenant Trust clients both old and new.
He received the Distinguished Alumni Award from North Park University in 2003 and was honored with a Doctor of Divinity degree from the seminary in 2007.
After retirement, he and Carole traveled to many parts of the world, often with longtime friends they knew through their association with North Park and the denomination. They were also able to spend more time at their beloved Hagerman Lakehouse in Michigan and wintered in Bradenton, Florida. LeRoy loved to mow the grass on his John Deere tractor and ride around the lake on the pontoon boat. He delighted in his grandchildren and great-grandchildren and they in him.
He and Carole were longtime members of North Park Covenant Church, and their family life revolved around the church and community of North Park. They also attended Grace Covenant Church in Iron River, Michigan, and Trailer Estates Covenant Church in Bradenton, Florida.
He and Marge were also able to spend time at Hagerman Lake and in Florida.
LeRoy is survived by his wife Marge (Gustafson) Elowson Johnson, his son Eric, his daughter Christine Rosell (Jack), his brother Duane, six grandchildren, two great-grandsons, and many friends and relatives.
Donations may be made in his name to North Park University.
Peace be to his memory.
