Philip Johnson, a Dallas legend known as the official historian of the Dallas LGBT community, passed away Monday, Sept. 23, at 1 a.m. at Landmark of Plano retirement Home, at the age of 94.

Philip was born May 1, 1925, in Dallas to Easter Lily Young Johnson and Francis Xavier Johnson. He attended Woodrow Wilson High School and served in the U.S. Army during World War II, reaching the rank of T/5, Charlie Company ( those reach the rank “technician fifth grade” were addressed as corporal or tech corporal and had specialized skills that merited a higher pay grade).

After the Army, Johnson was a professional ballet dancer and once owned a dance studio. He was also an activist — he danced with Frank Kameny at the American Psychiatric Association’s conference in Dallas in 1972, the year that Kameny and Barbara Gittings first petitioned the APA to remove homosexuality from its list of mental diseases and the year before APA made that change — and an avid history buff. He compiled an extensive history of the Dallas LGBT community in the 20th century, later donating his collection to Resource Center, which then created the Phil Johnson Historic Archives and Library. That collection has since been donated to the University of North Texas Archives to create the Resource Center Dallas LGBT Collection.

Watch for a complete obituary and more on Philip Johnson’s life in the Oct. 4 issue of Dallas Voice.