Biography of Skip Johnson
Skip Johnson was an award-winning newspaperman for 30 years until he took early retirement in 1992 to become an independent writer. Since then he has written many magazine articles and two nonfiction books: The Gospel of Yeshua: A Fresh Look at the Life and Teaching of Jesus (Corinthian Books, 2001), and A Charleston Primer for Yankees: History with a Southern Accent (Meeting Street Press, 2010).
Skip was born and reared in South Carolina. After graduating from high school in Charleston, he enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve and spent six months undergoing basic training at Parris Island, S.C., and combat training at Camp Geiger N.C. He then attended Wofford College and Brevard College before beginning his newspaper career as a news reporter with The Florence (S.C.) Morning News in 1960.
Early in his career Skip helped cover the desegregation of Alabama for The Associated Press, then served as chief political writer for The Orlando Sentinel and, later, state capital bureau chief for The Tampa Tribune before he was promoted to state editor of The Tribune. Other editorial positions he has held include managing editor of The New Bedford (Mass.) Standard-Times, and city editor of The Yonkers (N.Y.) Herald-Statesman.
In 1985 Skip returned to his first love, writing, and spent the next six years as a multiple award-winning writer for The (Charleston, S.C.) News and Courier, where he specialized in making complicated stories simple to understand. He was the newspaper’s religion editor and columnist in 1992 when he resigned to become an independent writer.
Skip and his wife, Sue, live in Charleston. They have two daughters and four grandsons.
