Robert (Christian) Anton Johnson, an actor and musical theater performer who later was a D.J. and program director for WLNG Radio in its formative days, died in his sleep on Dec. 13 at the Westhampton Care Center. He was 85.
Mr. Johnson starred in many local theater companies’ productions, appearing at Guild Hall and other venues. As a guitar player, he was a regular on the live music scene, performing at the Sea Spray Inn, the Montauk Yacht Club, and Indian Cove in Hampton Bays.
“His love of history and knowledge of historical figures, mixed with his innate storytelling and humor, led him to start impersonating famous men from the past,” his family wrote, saying his “best-known role” was Abraham Lincoln. He performed at colleges, motivational conferences, and school assemblies.
His more notable venues, they wrote, included the White House, a Gettysburg anniversary, a Unesco meeting in Paris, and the Sag Harbor Elementary School’s morning program with his grandchildren and their classmates cheering him on.
He was born on July 31, 1938, at Southampton Hospital to Ilse and Anton Johnson and grew up in Westhampton Beach. He graduated from Westhampton Beach High School and went on to study at the State University at Oswego. He briefly served in the Coast Guard, then moved to New York City to begin his acting career.
In 1961, Mr. Johnson met Barbara Kelly at a croquet match in East Hampton. The two were married soon after and settled here. In 1963, he began working for the fledgling Sag Harbor radio station, and even announced the birth of his daughter on air in 1965.
Fishing was a hobby that started at an early age. He also enjoyed skiing and could often be found entertaining the after-ski crowd in winter resort communities.
After he and his first wife divorced, Mr. Johnson moved to Philadelphia, continuing his career as a radio personality for what was then known as the EAZY 101 FM station.
In 1996, he met and married Sherry Maurer in Pennsylvania. They lived in Cherry Hill, N.J., until she died in 2021. “They filled in each other’s gaps,” wrote Ms. Maurer’s daughter, Susan Maurer Tracey of Voorhees, N.J. “He was a dreamer of big ideas and she would gently bring him back down to earth.”
Mr. Johnson leaves a son, Eric C. Johnson, and his wife, Bridget LeRoy, of Moriches, and a daughter, Kelly Kunzeman, and her husband, Butch Kunzeman, of North Haven. In addition to Ms. Tracey and her husband, Chris Tracey, Mr. Johnson is also survived by two stepsons, Christopher Schenck and his wife, Susan Schenck, of Wake Forest, N.C., and Jim Maurer and his wife, Theresa Maurer, of Bolivia, N.C.
His grandchildren, Lily, Claire, and Jessup Kunzeman and Joel and Bingham Johnson, and a stepgranddaughter, Georgia Warner, “will all miss him terribly,” his family wrote.
A memorial service will take place on Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Westhampton Beach Methodist Church.
