Thomas Johnson, Ground Breaking Newsman

Thomas A. Johnson, 79, one of the first black journalist to work as a foreign correspondent for a major U.S. newspaper, died in New York City June 2.

When Johnson joined The New York Times in 1966, he was the paper’s only black reporter. He covered race riots in Los Angeles and was based in Nigeria from 1972 to 1975 after temporary postings in Vietnam, Europe and the Caribbean. He won several awards for his coverage of black servicemen in Vietnam and Europe, writing that many black soldiers resented being sent into danger when civil rights demonstrators were being harassed at home.

He resigned from The Times in 1982 after serving as an assistant metropolitan editor, 1977 to 1978, and then returning to reporting. Johnson later ran his own public relations firm. He was a founding member of Black Perspective, an organization of black reporters in New York, and a member of the founding board of advisers to Black Enterprise magazine