Lee Logan
Erskine Vice President Lee Logan
Receives Rotary's Highest Award
If there were no Rotary Club, Lee
Logan would have created it. An organization with the motto of "Service
Above Self" could not exist without people like Logan, and neither
could Erskine College and the small community of Due West.
Logan is much more than just the
Vice President for Development and Facilities at Erskine. An Erskine
graduate and career administrator at his alma mater, Logan has developed
his leadership skills and applied the aspects of service learning
that Erskine was founded on more than 160 years ago.
"Erskine is like an incubator
for that kind of thing," Logan said. "Erskine encourages people to
contribute to their community and to other people who have given so
much."
So the community of Due West and
Erskine College found it fitting that Rotary presented Logan with
its highest honor May 11, naming him a Paul Harris Fellow. He was
selected by the Abbeville Rotary Club, which will make a contribution
in Logan's name to the Rotary International Foundation for significant
relief and humanitarian projects across the world.
John Carson, a Logan classmate
and close friend at Erskine, and now president of the Associate Reformed
Presbyterian (ARP) school, said, "My friendship with Lee has continued
throughout our lives and has been enhanced especially as we work together
in Erskine's administration. I do not know another individual who
is more closely identified with all that is good about Erskine. Lee
has a servant spirit and gives every assignment his all."
A highlight of Logan's work at
Erskine was his successful leadership of a $7.4 million campaign to
construct the Daniel-Moultrie Science Center in 1999, a combination
of his tireless work as Erskine's chief fund-raiser and physical plant
director. Even more recently, Logan's work with the Bell family of
Chester helped secure the second largest gift in the institution's
history.
"Lee has done an excellent job of
balancing several assignments at the same time as Vice President for
Development and Facilities," Carson said. "Our buildings and grounds
have never looked better. At the same time millions of dollars have
come Erskine's way by his tireless efforts in befriending and caring
for the friends of Erskine."
But for all Logan continues to
do for Erskine, those who know him best talk of the range of community
involvement and the Rotarian-like lifestyle of service above self.
Logan provides assistance to numerous
people at the Due West Retirement Center, where he has served on the
board; he has served the Due West ARP Church as elder, Sunday school
teacher and moderator of Second Presbytery; he is president of Helping
Hands, an organization that provides food to the poor and needy; he
has served on two telephone boards of directors; he has served on
the Abbeville County Development Board; he is on the town of Due West
beautification committee; he helped form the Due West Rescue Squad
and was an Emergency Medical Service Technician for 11 years; and
the list goes on and on.
Another of Logan's interests is
Rotary, because, he says, "They always encourage people to do the
right thing, not just what is best for personal gain.
"A well-run organization like
Rotary provides its members with the opportunity to divide their sorrows
and multiply their joys," Logan said. "It is an opportunity for service,
but also an opportunity to build relationships with people you can
share things with."
Logan's life of service may have
been honed at Erskine, but he has been inspired by close relationships
with other Rotarians, friends like Carson, and role models like his
late father Frank, a former dean at Wofford College; his mother Madeline,
who lives nearby on Logan Lane in Due West; and the late Owen Mullinax,
a former banker from Hodges who served with him on several boards.
Logan is also a dedicated family
man, and his wife Eleanor teaches at the local high school. They have
three children: Ward, an administrator at The Citadel; Rebecca Gamble,
a Greenwood nurse who lives in the Due West area; and Ruth, a student
at the local high school. Rebecca and her husband Brian made Logan
a grandfather this spring when their son Zachary arrived.
Logan is excited about a realignment
plan at Erskine with an emphasis on development that goes into effect
July 1. Logan's physical plant duties will be shifted elsewhere, the
development staff will increase, and other staff members have been
assigned development responsibilities.
"Lee will direct all of the institutional
advancement program," Carson said. "He has been with this institution
for a long time and has impeccable credentials. We need to free him
up to get out on the road, and focus his time and energy on development
only. This will produce great dividends for Erskine."
Logan, an Erskine alumnus, has served
in several positions at the college since 1972, when he was appointed
Director of Alumni Affairs. He served as Vice President for Development
from 1973-90, when he became Vice President for Administration and
Planned Giving.
In 1996, Logan became Director
of the Science Building Campaign, retaining his responsibilities in
the area of Planned Giving, and took over as Vice President for Development
in 1997.
Logan entered Erskine as a freshman
in 1963 after graduating from Spartanburg High School. He was active
on campus as a member of the Euphemian Literary Society and the Honor
Council and was elected to Who’s Who Among College and University
Students before graduating in 1967.
Logan earned a master’s degree
in education at the University of Georgia in 1969 and before coming
to Erskine was employed at the John de la Howe School in McCormick
as Business Manager and Director of Social Services.
