Jeff Johnson, Rental Rep for Christie Lites, passed peacefully in Las Vegas, NV on April 16 at the age of 62, after a long bout with illness.
He is survived by his beautiful wife Robin Johnson, their two sons Mathew and Kyle, his daughter Kirby, Anthony (Son-in-law), his two grandchildren Nola and Lucca as well as his brother Wally and Sister In-law Kim. Prior to joining Christie Lites, Jeff had a long career in lighting design for variety and music clients around the world.
Jeff was born in Portland Maine September 23rd 1958 where he spent his first 20 years. He started his career in lighting in 1977 and spent his first seven years touring with the Ice Capades as Lighting Designer and Director. In 1988 Jeff moved to Los Angeles which later provided an opportunity to work with Siegfried & Roy. Eventually Jeff became the Lighting Director for the Siegfried & Roy Tsumura World Tour. Robin and Jeff met and fell love on that very tour. After the tour Jeff and Robin returned to Las Vegas to open Siegfried & Roy’s new show at The Mirage.
Jeff designed lighting for Cher for nearly ten years and earned two Technical Emmy nominations. He also worked on other touring projects including Pat Benatar, Laura Brannigan, REO Speedwagon, Fleetwood Mac, Diana Ross, Madonna, Gino Vanelli, and many more. He went on to designing many large special events for some of the major hotels here in Las Vegas.
In 2007 Jeff accepted a position heading up the lighting department for MGM Grand Productions where he continued to focus on corporate clients coming to the MGM Conference Center as well as dealing with all the in-house events throughout the property.
In 2010 Jeff joined Christie Lites and was part of the Christie team for over a decade. He took pride in looking after a diverse mix of clients, including music, sports and corporate events, and including one of Christie Lites’ longest-running continuous tours.
Jeff had a huge range of industry colleagues and friends, and was amazing at remembering which sports team you rooted for, or what you liked to eat when he invited you over to the family house in Vegas. He also was renowned for his impressive Christmas Holidays light show which he designed every year for the family home!
Celebrate the life of Jeffrey Johnson - to leave a kind word or memory of Jeff, visit www.dignitymemorial.com ‘Jeffrey Johnson Obituary - Las Vegas, NV.’
