John Johnston, the cofounder of Australian vacuum cleaner retailer Godfreys, passed away at the age of 100 on 29 November 2018.
Johnston, who first launched Godfreys in 1936 with Godfrey Cohen in Melbourne, completed a takeover of then ASX-listed Godfreys and returned it to private ownership in July this year, only a few weeks after his 100th birthday.
He first made the all-cash takeover bid for Godfreys in April. In June, Johnson acquired a relevant interest of 91.21 per cent in Godfreys shares, and subsequently bought the company for $13.7 million through his family-owned Arcade Finance.
In May, John Hardy, who was previously Godfreys CEO from 1983 to 2010 and again from mid-2016 to December 2017, returned to the vacuum retailer as interim CEO.
In October, Johnston opened a new store in the Adelaide Arcade, South Australia.
Today, Godfreys has 220 stores in operation in New Zealand and Australia.
