Edward Crosby Johnson II (January 19, 1898 – April 2, 1984) was an American businessman and lawyer who founded Fidelity Investments.

“A Boston Brahmin, Mr. Johnson was born Edward Crosby Johnson 2d in a townhouse on Beacon street, Back Bay, on Jan. 19, 1898, the son of Samuel Johnson, a partner in a leading dry-goods firm C.F. Hovey and Co. and Josephine (Forbush) Johnson.”^[1] Johnson came from a family of New England Puritan ancestry.^[2]

He graduated from Milton Academy in 1916, Harvard College in 1920, and Harvard Law School in 1924.^[3][4][5] From August 1917 to July 1918, Johnson was enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve as a second class radioman during World War I; there are conflicting accounts about his military service.^[5]

After graduating from Harvard Law, Johnson became an associate at Boston law firm Ropes, Gray, Boyden & Perkins.^[6] Also in 1924, he became involved in stock market research.^[7] Diana B. Henriques wrote in 1995: "...those who knew Ed Johnson sensed...an openness to the new and the exotic. Most of all, there was a very un-Bostonian passion for the quick, rude, sharp-witted world of Wall Street."^[6]

After nearly 15 years as a trust lawyer at Ropes Gray, Johnson became vice president and treasurer of the Incorporated Investors trust that was co-founded by Edward G. Leffler and George Putnam in 1939; Johnson had previously been Incorporated Investors' general counsel.^[8][9]

In May 1930 he was granted permission to start “The Fidelity Fund”by John C. Hull, serving as the President, Vice President and Treasurer. ^[10] In 1946, he founded Fidelity Management and Research, and he served as its chairman.^[7] By 1958, Johnson managed over $400 million combined with $357 million in the Fidelity Fund and $59 million in his new Puritan Fund.^[11] Beginning in 1969, Johnson chaired the board of Fidelity Management and Research.^[12]

He died in Cataumet, Massachusetts of Alzheimer's disease in 1984, and his funeral was held at Milton's Universalist First Parish Church.^[7]