J-School Benefactor Dies

The UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism mourns the death of Reva Logan, philanthropist and wife of David Logan, who passed away in January 2011. Mrs. Logan, who was 91, died peacefully at her home in Chicago on July 22.

The Logans loved and supported the arts and photography personally and through their family foundation, now led by their sons Jonathan Logan, Richard Logan and Daniel Logan.

The Reva and David Logan Family Foundation has been extraordinarily generous to the Graduate School of Journalism, supporting investigative journalism and now finalizing a gift to support photojournalism as well. Their generosity extends to UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library, where they are creating a room dedicated to the Logans’ collection of rare and important photographic books.

The support of Mrs. Logan and her husband for the Graduate School of Journalism and Bancroft Library dates back to 2000. In 2004, they established the Reva and David Logan Distinguished Chair in Investigative Journalism. Appointed to the chair was Lowell Bergman, known for his work investigating the tobacco industry on “60 Minutes” and for sharing the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for a series on worker safety in The New York Times.

“Throughout the last decade,” Bergman said, “Reva’s sons would talk lovingly about her profound influence, and her late husband, David, who passed away before her, would describe how much she meant to his own commitment to the arts and journalism. Her passing reminds me once again that we could not have done what we have done here at the Investigative Reporting Program without her, and the family she created.”

The family foundation also established and annually funds the prestigious annual Logan Symposium on Investigative Reporting at UC Berkeley. The only symposium of its kind in the country, it routinely brings together a veritable “who’s who” of top journalists, law enforcement and government officials to address the critical issues confronting this specialized field.

Most recently, the foundation has been working with the School of Journalism on a major gift to create the Reva and David Logan Professorship in Photojournalism and Reva and David Logan Photographic Gallery in North Gate Hall, where the school is located.

Adjunct Professor Ken Light, director of the school’s photography program, noted how Mrs. Logan and her family have been concerned to “create an environment to help the next generation of photographers and journalists understand the power and humanism of the visual image.” He added, “Through her vision and wonderful generosity, Reva has made our world a richer and brighter place to be.”

Mrs. Logan’s family also has been working to create a dedicated room for their collection of important photographic books, an enduring passion, in UC Berkeley’s Bancroft Library. University Librarian Thomas Leonard said, “The Logan family built an outstanding collection that shows how the camera changed the way we see the world in books. The Bancroft Library dates back to the earliest years of this new visual language in the 19th century and would be proud to make the Logans’ rare volumes a showpiece today.”

The gift also would establish a Logan Collection Lecture Series and a book series in contemporary photography.

Reva Logan suffered for many years from Alzheimer’s disease. She is survived by her sons Daniel Logan, Jonathan Logan and Richard Logan and by nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

The Reva and David Logan Foundation is a private, independent grant-making institution focusing on education, the arts, religion, civil society, social change and aid to the disadvantaged.

Please see Reva Logan obituary

Please visit Logan Foundation’s Memorial page