Obituary of John Logue

John Logue, Professor of Political Science at Kent State University and Director of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center passed away on December 9, 2009, at the Cleveland Clinic after a month’s illness. Born and raised in Texas, he received a B.A., University of Texas, 1970; an M.A., Princeton University, 1973; and a Ph.D., Princeton in 1976. He leaves behind family members including his wife, Olga Klepikova of Kent, and daughters, Karen Logue of Berkeley CA, AnneMarie Logue of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Katherine Helen Logue, of Kent. Logue joined the Kent State faculty in 1977, was a scholar of Scandinavian studies and employee ownership, and had a strong sense of economic justice and American cultural values expressed in the writings of Thomas Jefferson. He was fond of quoting his father: “No better fertilizer can be found than the footsteps of the owner on his land.” A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Logue held a Danforth Fellowship for graduate study from 1970-1975, a Research Fellowship from the Danish Social Science Research Council in 1978-79; a Swedish Bicentennial Fellowship in 1980; a Fulbright Professorship at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark in 1992; a KSU Distinguished Scholar Award in 2002; the Ford Foundation’s “Leadership for a Changing World” Award in 2003; the Ohio Council of Cooperatives' "Ohio Cooperative Educator of the Year" award in 2003; and a Doctor of Humane Letters from Alvernia College in 2005 for his work with employee ownership. He wrote widely on employee ownership and workplace democracy. Logue became involved in the effort to avert the Youngstown steel mill shutdowns and then began research on employee ownership as a job-saving strategy in 1984. He founded the Ohio Employee Ownership Center in 1987 and since has worked with over 500 firms and employee groups employing 95,458 workers of which 74 firms employing 14,066 workers have implemented partial or complete employee ownership and created more than $300 million in equity for their employee owners. Ohio’s Employee-Owned Network provides education for 80 employee-owned companies which employ more than 15,000 Ohioans and generate more than $2.4 billion in sales. Most recently, Logue was working with the Cleveland Foundation and other nonprofits to create a network of employee-owned cooperatives in the Greater University Circle area of Cleveland to employ residents and provide goods and services to the area’s universities and hospitals as an economic revitalization strategy. Evergreen Cooperative Laundry and Ohio Cooperative Solar, were launched in October. Logue had served on the boards of directors of Reuther Mold and Manufacturing, Cuyahoga Falls, OH and Sharpsville Quality Products, Sharpsville, PA; and, on the board of trustees of Common Wealth Inc; the Jim Smith Memorial Educational Fund, sponsored by the United Steelworkers of America; the advisory board of the Northeast Ohio Workforce Training Initiative; the advisory board of the Center for Social and Economic Justice; the executive board of the Workplace Education Institute; and the board of Common Wealth Property Management. Calling hours will be held on Sunday December 13, 12:00 Noon – 4:00 P.M. at the Redmon Funeral Home, 3633 Darrow Road, Stow, OH. A memorial service will be held on Monday December 14, at 3:30 P.M. in the Kiva, Kent State University Student Center , Kent, OH. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Ohio Employee Ownership Center/KSU Foundation or the John Logue Memorial Employee Ownership Scholarship/KSU Foundation. Checks should be mailed to OEOC, Kent State University, 113 McGilvrey Hall, Kent, OH 44242.   To view Mr. Logue's video tribute click here.