Johan A. Madson

Johan Madson grew up in Wilmington, Delaware and graduated from P. S. duPont High School in 1959. Colorblindness led to a career change from chemistry to economics and in 1963, he graduated from St. Olaf College in Minnesota. Johan married Lynda Jane Phillips in 1965. He earned a masters degree in economics in 1970 and a doctorate in economics and higher education in 1974 from Ohio University.

Johan Madson enjoyed a distinguished career in higher education, serving as Assistant Dean of Students at the University of Delaware, Associate Dean of Students at Iowa State University, and the Dean of Students at Boston University. For 21 years, he served as Associate Provost and Dean of Students at Vanderbilt University until his retirement in 2001. After his retirement, Johan was a professor of the practice of higher education administration at the University of Virginia (UVA).

When wife Lynda retired from UVA in 2010, she and Johan moved to North Carolina to help raise their grandchildren. He attended school performances, drove to the horse barn for riding lessons, carpooled to swim and tennis lessons, and regularly baked cookies with them. Serving as board chair, and on committees and task forces, Johan was also devoted to his church, Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (ERUUF).

Johan will be remembered as a dedicated husband, father, brother, grandfather, uncle, and friend. He was an avid reader and loved to travel while he was able. He particularly loved family reunions on Sanibel Island and travel to his ancestral homeland of Norway. Also important was Johan’s philanthropic support of human rights and environmental causes. Known for his commitment to his family, he once saved several of them from a rattlesnake while hiking in the Colorado mountains. Because Johan and his niece, Karin, believed in respecting all living things and Lynda believed in the importance of well-cooked meat, rattlesnake jerky was served that night.

Johan Madson was preceded in death by his parents, Beulah Loye and Willard H. Madson; brothers, Willard L. Madson and Dennis L. Madson; sisters-in-law, Patricia O. Madson and Iva Mae Phillips; and brother-in-law, Dr. Gary R. Phillips.

Left to cherish his memories are his wife of 56 years, Lynda Phillips Madson; his son, Johan Phillips Madson (Anne); his daughter, Marinda Madson-Crochet (Brad); his grandchildren, Even Jane Crochet and Gabriel Johan Thomas Crochet; his brother, Harris N. Madson (Judy); his special brothers-in-law, Thomas W. Phillips (Dorothy), William Paul Phillips, and Steven A. Phillips (Gina); his Madson nieces, Deborah Parker, Kate Walsh, Christine Lowry, Karin Madson (Robert), Lise Madson, Sonja Madson, Susan Smith (Brian), and Polly Cox (Oliver); and other special nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews.

Due to COVID-19, a small family service, under the direction of Reverend Deborah Cayer, was held on September 29th. In lieu of flowers, those who wish to honor his memory may make donations to Doctors Without Borders, the Human Rights Campaign, Eno River Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (ERUUF), or Unity Church of the Triangle.