“For decades, friends of Charles E. Johnson imagined his moment of triumph. Some day his billionaire father would retire after decades of running Franklin Resources Inc., one of America’s biggest mutual-fund groups. At last, the younger Mr. Johnson would vault into the chief executive officer’s job,” writes George Anders in today’s Wall Street Journal.

“Chuck Johnson chased that dream relentlessly. He earned a master’s in business administration at Harvard and later joined Franklin’s board while still in his 30s. He handled the company’s biggest acquisitions and flew to India and Russia to spread Franklin’s business around the globe. By 1999, he was earning more than $1.3 million a year as one of Franklin’s top five officers.”

“Then the younger Mr. Johnson abruptly destroyed his chances of ever leading his father’s company. On the night of Sept. 28, 2002, he hurled his wife into their kitchen stove, fracturing bones in her face. Nine months later, he pleaded no contest to a felony assault charge. A 60-day stay in jail followed, along with ouster from Franklin. At his sentencing hearing, the 47-year-old Mr. Johnson described himself as an alcoholic who tore through other people’s lives like a tornado. “I have created a lot of wreckage,” he said.”

“Colleagues were stunned. Until the very end, Chuck Johnson was seen as firmly in command, leading a three-person race for the CEO job. Yet appearances were misleading. What emerges from state-court proceedings and interviews with Franklin insiders and Mr. Johnson himself is a portrait of a hard-driving executive who struggled for years to hold himself together amid growing personal strains.”

“Any contest for corporate succession is sprinkled with behind-the-scenes drama. Few companies, however, have endured anything like Franklin’s handover of power, which reached its final resolution last month. For nearly four years, the two oldest sons of Franklin’s CEO, along with a fast-rising outsider, jockeyed for position. How they competed — and who won — has shaped not only the inner workings of one of the nation’s richest families, but also the destiny of a New York Stock Exchange company that manages $314 billion of assets.”

“The West Coast Johnsons, who own about 35% of Franklin, attract much less publicity than the unrelated Johnsons of Boston, who control the Fidelity Investments mutual-fund empire. Even so, Franklin has long been regarded as one of the financial sector’s best-run companies. Its stock has appreciated 1,900-fold since the company went public in 1971, far outpacing the 11-fold rise in the Dow Jones Industrial Average during the same period. Like many mutual-fund companies, Franklin is being scrutinized by government officials in the current trading-abuse investigations. It hasn’t been charged with any violations.”

“Propelling Franklin ahead has been Charles B. ‘Charlie’ Johnson, the company’s 70-year-old patriarch, who has been chief executive officer since 1957. ‘Charlie could sell a ketchup Popsicle to a woman wearing white gloves,’ says Nicholas Moore, an admiring former Franklin fund manager. An athletic man with a warm smile, the older Mr. Johnson is renowned as a smart stock-picker and a world-class marketer of funds under the Franklin, Templeton and Mutual Series brands. Thanks mostly to his 18% stake in Franklin, his net worth approaches $2 billion.”

“Proud of his family, Charlie Johnson for years entrusted the municipal-bond group to older brother Andy, who came to work in a rumpled sport coat purchased at a thrift shop. (Andy Johnson left in the mid-1990s to become a full-time Roman Catholic deacon.) Meanwhile, a younger brother became vice chairman, a nephew once served as a vice president, and a brother-in-law sits on the board. All seven of Charlie Johnson’s children appeared on the payroll at various stages, though only three stayed for long.”