Jay Johnson, who served one term in the US House of Representatives following a long career in TV news, died Saturday (10/17) of an apparent heart attack. He was 66.
According to his Wikipedia bio, Johnson worked at TV stations in Michigan, Indiana and Florida before settling in for a 16-year run as a news anchor in Green Bay, WI, first at WFRV-TV and then WLUK-TV. He was then elected in November 1996 to an open seat in Congress, due to the retirement of Republican Toby Roth. Johnson represented Wisconsin’s 8th District for one term as a Democrat, before being defeated in his bid for re-election by Republican Mark Green.
During the Clinton Administration, Johnson served from 2000 to 2001 as Director of the US Mint. He later ran his own coin wholesaling business and was Chief Numismatist for The Franklin Mint.
Most recently, Johnson had become the advertising voice of Goldline International, which promotes its sale of gold coins on numerous radio talk shows.
