The Frost School of Music is overjoyed to recognize the generosity and vision of Charlie and Ann Johnson with the 2024 Frost Legacy Award. The couple received the annual award, which honors philanthropic leaders in the arts, at the 2024 Winter Wonderful gala in Miami, Florida.
The Palm Beach couple are lifelong music lovers and donors to educational, medical and artistic causes, who have given generously to the Knight Center for Innovation and the Donna E. Shalala MusicReach program. Both grew up listening to classical music, and Charlie Johnson’s three sisters were accomplished pianists. “Unfortunately I didn’t inherit the talent, but I inherited the enjoyment,” he says.
A former U.S. Army lieutenant, Charlie Johnson is the retired chairman of Franklin Templeton Investments, a family firm which he took over in 1957, at age 24, and built from $2.5 million to over $1.4 trillion in assets. He is a principal owner of the San Francisco Giants and has served on the board of the San Francisco Symphony. In 2013 he donated $250 million to his alma mater, Yale University (where he sang in the famed Whiffenpoofs), the largest gift in its history, to construct two residence halls.
Ann Lutes Johnson, a psychiatrist and graduate of Stanford Medical School, has served on the boards of the San Francisco Opera, the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, the California Academy of Sciences, and currently on the boards of the New York Philharmonic and the Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach.
The Johnsons have donated extensively to Stanford University Medical Center, creating the Charles B. and Ann L. Johnson Center for Pregnancy and Newborn Services and a pediatric clinic named for their deceased daughter Mary L. Johnson. The couple, who married in 1955, have six other children and 17 grandchildren.
Their good fortune has inspired them to give back. “When you’ve had a wonderful life, you want to contribute to help improve and educate future generations,” says Charlie Johnson. “You want to leave the world a little better than you found it.”
The Johnsons were drawn to donate to the Frost School by their longtime friendship with Dean Shelton G. Berg, and their respect for Frost School professor Maestro Gerard Schwarz’s leadership of the Palm Beach Symphony, which they also support. “I’ve known Shelly for 35 years and am a great admirer of his music and his talent,” says Charlie Johnson. “When we first went to the Palm Beach Symphony, I was blown away,” says Ann Johnson.
Their generosity is deeply appreciated in return.
“In our wonderful world of classical music and music education, there are always a few thoughtful and generous people, like Charlie and Ann Johnson, who understand the extraordinary value of music in people's lives,” says Maestro Schwarz.
“My friends Charlie and Ann Johnson are selfless and prolific philanthropists whose gifts have been transformational to arts organizations, universities, public health causes, and so much more,” says Berg. “They are not only generous with their giving, but with their time, and in opening their homes to host fundraising events. They are an inspiration to me and countless others.”
