There will be a memorial service for John in the Kiva on Monday, December 14, starting at 3:30 pm and lasting until about 4:30. The doors will open at 3 pm and we’ll need to be out by 5 pm. The department will furnish beverages and light snacks before and after the ceremony, the details of which are in their early planning stage. This day and time were chosen at the behest of John’s family, which recognizes, regrets, and understands that not everyone will be able to attend given their previous commitments. If you are giving an exam during these times, feel free to let me know and I will arrange for a proctor.
John’s family is also planning visitation hours at a local funeral home (probably Bissler & Sons in his West Main neighborhood). Details on these visitation hours have yet to be finalized. I will let you know when I have more information.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
I am so incredibly saddened at the passing of John Logue, a close friend, mentor and colleague. He is someone who meant so much to me personally and professionally.
I began working at Kent State ten years ago. Shortly after I was hired, John, a senior faculty member with a slight southern drawl, came into my office. I was expecting a lecture about my place in the department. Instead we talked about Sweden (his area of expertise) and Germany (the country I had just written a dissertation about). I was taken aback by that fact that he seemed to know significantly more about Germany than I did.
We talked about the importance of unions. He shared with me stories of what life was like at the university prior to faculty union representation; how many of the rights that faculty now take for granted were the result of hard fought past battles. Unions were not something that stifled economic development. On the contrary, John and I were united in the view that labor representation was a central component to any just and healthy economic system.
We talked about our favorite beers and ales and he invited me to join him at a place I’d never heard of: the Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland. Over time, we would spend many hours at the Great Lakes Brewing Company comparing our favorite lagers and stouts.
Most importantly, at that first meeting in my office John talked to me about the culture and structure of the department. It was an incredibly difficult and contentious period in our department. And, as he did with so many, John took me under his wing during my first days and Kent. He shared with me what I needed to do to succeed and what I should be careful to avoid. His advice and counsel proved invaluable. And since that meeting I made a point of turning to John first for any questions related to university, department or the profession.
I honestly cannot believe this person who was in my office just two weeks ago, is now no longer with us. And while I feel great sadness at losing such a good friend and colleague, I can’t help but feel fortunate to have known a person of such integrity, compassion, intellect, and humor.
Mark Cassell
I began working at Kent State ten years ago. Shortly after I was hired, John, a senior faculty member with a slight southern drawl, came into my office. I was expecting a lecture about my place in the department. Instead we talked about Sweden (his area of expertise) and Germany (the country I had just written a dissertation about). I was taken aback by that fact that he seemed to know significantly more about Germany than I did.
We talked about the importance of unions. He shared with me stories of what life was like at the university prior to faculty union representation; how many of the rights that faculty now take for granted were the result of hard fought past battles. Unions were not something that stifled economic development. On the contrary, John and I were united in the view that labor representation was a central component to any just and healthy economic system.
We talked about our favorite beers and ales and he invited me to join him at a place I’d never heard of: the Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland. Over time, we would spend many hours at the Great Lakes Brewing Company comparing our favorite lagers and stouts.
Most importantly, at that first meeting in my office John talked to me about the culture and structure of the department. It was an incredibly difficult and contentious period in our department. And, as he did with so many, John took me under his wing during my first days and Kent. He shared with me what I needed to do to succeed and what I should be careful to avoid. His advice and counsel proved invaluable. And since that meeting I made a point of turning to John first for any questions related to university, department or the profession.
I honestly cannot believe this person who was in my office just two weeks ago, is now no longer with us. And while I feel great sadness at losing such a good friend and colleague, I can’t help but feel fortunate to have known a person of such integrity, compassion, intellect, and humor.
Mark Cassell
Tribute to A Great Ohioan: Dr. John Logue of Kent State University
The epicenter of global economic change in America has been in the Midwest. To those of us with roots in Ohio, this economic cataclysm has been the challenge of our time in personal and public ways.
Great people are attracted to great challenges. Dr. John Logue of Kent State University is a shining example of this kind of greatness. Arriving in Kent in the mid-seventies from Texas - by way of Princeton and Europe - Dr. Logue's credentials, charm, optimism and moxie could have taken him anywhere to teach and work. He chose northeastern Ohio. His life's work has addressed our challenges.
John was diagnosed with a particularly virulent cancer on December 6 and was gone by December 9. He touched so many of us in a personal way that the e-mail list serves cannot possibly reach everyone. It is a measure of his contribution to the community that it takes an editorial to reach all who need to know.
Long-time Director of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center and professor of political science, John burned the midnight oil with workers trying to buy their closing plant. He worked with the same intensity, the same mix of pressure, charm, counsel and insight, as he taught their sons and daughters at Kent State University. He made his students stretch: he taught us to travel, to interview, to observe and to participate. He made us write for publication and he got our work published. He took us with him into the plant; he forced us to be equal, to speak, to testify. We became journalists, labor leaders, civil servants, political scientists, marketing directors, business owners. We were better for having studied with him.
He taught the parents of his students on the shop floors of industrial plants. His life's work with employee ownership touched Ohioans affected by plant closure from communities across the state. He made them stretch - to explore options, to learn business strategies and finance, to lead, to cooperate, to facilitate. His work was beyond the social safety net. He worked with displaced workers as investors. They became investors. From the closure of the steel mills through the departure of DHL from Wilmington, for the past 25 years the reaction to economic disaster in Ohio has been: "Call John Logue!" In the face of difficulty, he gave us a sensible course of action. He is uniquely optimistic, uniquely American - but his optimism is born of faith in us, faith in our ability to stretch and to succeed.
In the last two years, John's work moved to employee ownership in the community through Cleveland's new cooperative green venture, the Evergreen Laundry. He brought the same expectation of high achievement to the workers and investors in the new enterprise. His vision of a cooperative and egalitarian workplace is the right vision for our future. Not only has it been embraced by hundreds of Ohio companies and cooperatives and thousands of workers, but major institutions – the United Steelworkers, for example – are moving to a model of economic progress based on employee ownership, worker participation and investment in community.
Great challenges bring hardship and yield progress. John Logue has provided steady, sure, insightful and lasting progress in our economic storm. We are grateful for his contribution.
by Wendy Patton, former student and OEOC colleague, and most importantly, close friend.
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