Developer Gets Chef for Recovery
by June 20, 2005 12:00 am 161 views
Gerald Johnston, the former chief financial officer at Tyson Foods Inc., suffered a mild heart attack in mid-May while on vacation in Destin, Fla. He had 90 percent blockage in one artery and received a stent implant, but was doing fine by mid-June.
Johnston recuperated for a couple of weeks on the Redneck Riviera before returning back to Northwest Arkansas. The only thing the now-prominent real estate developer said he hasn’t gotten over is the generosity of his friends.
John Flake and Brandon Rogers, Johnston’s partners in a couple of deals, even dispatched a Destin chef to cook supper for Johnston’s family.
“It blew me away,” Johnston said. “The chef came and fixed us chicken, with no salt of course. It was only appropriate since I was basically raised at Tyson. She also made us a sugarless dessert with strawberries that was incredible.”
Johnston, who climbed Tyson Foods’ ranks from 1970 to 1996, is part of dozens of partnerships developing more than 200 prime acres of mostly commercial property along the Interstate 540 corridor.