Henry Logan (1889-1981)

Henry Logan was born on June 22, 1889 in Carrol Township, York County, Pennsylvania to John N. and Ella Mae Coover Logan. He attended York High School, graduating in 1906, and then entered Dickinson College. At Dickinson, he became involved in the Theta Chi fraternity. In 1910, he received a B.A. degree from the College, which he followed with a M.A. degree in 1912. After receiving his first degree from Dickinson, he embarked on a teaching career, but abandoned it after just six years to pursue law instead.

In 1917, Logan moved to New York City, acquired a position as a clerk at the local law firm of Brower, Brower & Brower, and began studying law at New York University, Columbia University, and Brooklyn Law School. He gained a degree of LL.B. from Brooklyn by the end of the year. His preparations to take the bar exam were interrupted when the United States entered World War I, and he enlisted as a private in the New York National Guard. He was sent to the giant Plattsburgh Training Camp in New York, then on to Kelly Field in Texas, and afterwards to Columbus, Ohio, where he was commissioned as a First Lieutenant. From Columbus, he was sent back to Texas, to Rich Field in Waco, to serve as an Assistant Post Adjutant. He received orders to proceed to France but before he reached his port of embarkation the Armistice was reached, and he was discharged in January, 1919. He returned to New York, where he was admitted to the bar and hired by his old employer Brower, Brower & Brower. He worked as a lawyer for Wrenn & Schmid in Brooklyn for fifty-five years, finally retiring in 1974.

Logan was an active member of the community throughout his life. Through his profession, he became a member of both the Lawyer's Club of Brooklyn and the New York State Bar Association. Additionally, he was an adviser on the Draft Boards during World War II, a Mason, Commander of the local American Legion post, Director of the Axe-Houghton Corporation, and an extremely involved member of the Presbyterian Church. In his spare time, he enjoyed traveling with his wife, Frances McCracken of East Orange, New Jersey, whom he had married on August 20, 1926.

Though he never returned to live in Central Pennsylvania, Logan refused to relinquish his ties to Dickinson College. He served as trustee for the College from 1953 until 1981, received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters in 1977, and established several scholarships. In 1967, after adding $92,190 to the Henry Logan Endowment Fund, $100,000 was taken from that fund to endow a chair in his name. A year later, Edsel Ford's name, with the permission of Ford's grandson, was removed from the chair in the economics department, and it was renamed the Henry Logan Chair of Economics. Henry Logan died in Ormond Beach, Florida on March 6, 1981, having donated more than $1 million to Dickinson during his lifetime. He did come home at the last for he is buried in the Dillsburg Cemetery near his birthplace.