A 69-year-old Akron man was found dead Friday morning in the burned-out ruins of his home of some 40 years.
Firefighters found the body of James Johnson, a former auto body shop owner, after responding to a call received about 4 a.m. and saw the South Akron home engulfed in flames, according to the Akron Fire Department.
The fire “just blew the walls out. You can tell when you look back there,” said his daughter, Jennifer Smallwood, 33, of Norton, who was among a dozen or so family members and friends who gathered at the Victory Street property Friday morning.
“He just loved this house,” she said, standing feet from a haphazard pile of charred wood and other rubble where the house once stood. “He had it before we were born.”
She said her father adored his wooded spot on Victory, south of West Crosier Street not far from Summit Lake.
“He used to do a big garden here,” Smallwood said as she stood in a grassy vacant lot owned by her father, in front of where his home stood.
Johnson acquired three other vacant lots around his home, creating a slice of the country in the struggling area dotted with empty lots.
Akron Fire Department spokeswoman Lt. Sierjie Lash said Friday afternoon that the fire department is investigating the cause of the fire.
She said firefighters entered the home Friday morning after knocking down heavy flames to do a search and rescue.
Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene, Lash said.
Johnson was the longtime owner of a body shop near his house, Smallwood said, and he later became a handyman for a company that owns many properties in the neighborhood.
“He was a loving neighborhood man,” said Johnson’s daughter Jammie Coon, 29, of Norton, who joined the others Friday morning.
Johnson’s ex-wife, Tiffany Smallwood of Akron, chimed in: “He was uncle to everybody.”
Another daughter, Jessica Smallwood, 27, said some in the neighborhood called him “Papa JoJo.”
Katie Byard can be reached at 330-996-3781 or kbyard@thebeaconjournal.com.