BIO

Bruce Johnson was a vigorous defender, a close checker with a safe mark and a good clearing kick. 

He was a busy club man at a time of fairly lean pickings for Norwood.  He supplemented his league career with 24 reserves games and two goals through 1959, 1961, 1963 and 1964.

He was for a time a member of the Management Committee as players’ representative and later served on the NFC Board from 1975 to 1979. It all ended in tears.

A property developer, Bruce was heavily involved with the Norwood Football Club in the Windsor Park Shopping Centre venture, which ran into severe financial difficulties in 1981 when his companies were declared insolvent.  Norwood inherited the struggling complex and did not get clear of it until 1983, at great cost and with the sale of valuable assets like Carmel Court, the club’s boarding house for recruits. Bruce meanwhile moved to Brisbane, where he flourished. 

Bruce was born in Adelaide on 18 November 1936. He had siblings John and Chris, and attended Rostrevor College.  He married Loreto girl Margret-Ann Lee Guthrie, daughter of Angus and 
Mary (Lee) Guthrie of Unley Park. They had three children, Angus William Johnson, Rebecca and Edwina.

Bruce was the driving force behind major Brisbane projects including the $160m redevelopment of the former Carlton and United Brewery at Fortitude Valley – the city’s first mixed-use urban renewal site. His son Angus joined him in 1985 at Eastpac.  In 1993 Angus and his brother-in-law Robert Pullar - Rebecca’s husband - started Citimark, a highly successful property development business.

Angus was deposed as chairman of the Brisbane Lions in 2013 during turmoil over the sacking of coach Michael Voss and a $10m club deficit. Rebecca was the owner/designer of fashion business Adrift.

Bruce lived in the affluent riverside suburb of Newstead. Margret-Ann died in 1989 at 52. Bruce took a new wife, Annette, and became the step-father of Andrew, Jodie Natalie and Angus. He died of Alzheimer's Disease at 78 on 25 March 2015 and is buried at Mudgee Cemetery, Brisbane. 

P. Robins, D. Cox, G. Adams, W. Miller December 2025