RIDDLE Timber pioneer Don Johnson, who created a logging industry empire that spanned the state, died Nov. 25 after battling illness for several years. He was 83.

He was the founder of D.R. Johnson Lumber Company, which started a half-century ago in Riddle, in Southern Oregon. 

The company bought the sawmill in Prairie City in 1976, adding a stud mill and planer operation to the Prairie Wood Products site two years later.

The company acquired Grant Western Lumber in John Day and Umpqua Lumber Company in 1992. 

The mills in Grant County have been idled in recent years as the recession undercut housing and lumber markets nationwide. 

The news of Johnsons death saddened colleagues and friends. 

U.S. Rep. Greg Walden issued a statement this week, offering condolences to the family.

With the passing of D.R. Johnson, Oregons timbered communities have lost one of their strongest advocates, and I have lost a good friend, Walden said. D.R. cared deeply about the people who worked in his mills, their families and the rural communities of Oregon. He fought hard for their jobs and for active management of forest land. He was principled and tough, hardworking and unpretentious, and he gave back generously to the towns of our state.

Johnson had suffered several strokes in recent years. Relatives told the Roseburg News-Review that even after his first stroke in 2006, he continued to work.