LORRY I. LOKEY: Biographical Information

LORRY I. LOKEY Biographical Information

BUSINESS: Founder of Business Wire international media relations company. The company was sold in 2006 to Berkshire Hathaway. Lokey started Business Wire in San Francisco in 1961 with one part-time employee, seven clients, and 16 media outlets in the Bay Area. Today, Business Wire has more than 25,000 clients, operates out of 25 domestic and six foreign offices and has 500 employees.

EARLY LIFE AND EDUCATION: Born in Portland, Ore., March 27, 1927. Graduated from Alameda Elementary School and Grant High School. Graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in journalism in 1949 from Stanford University, where he was editor of The Stanford Daily. Holds honorary doctorates from Santa Clara University, Mills College and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

EARLY CAREER:

• Features editor of Pacific Stars & Stripes, Tokyo, Japan during World War II service, 1946.
• Night wire editor for United Press (now UPI) in Portland, 1949-50.
• Reporter for the Longview (Wash.) Daily News, 1950-52.
• Administrator, Western Highway Institute, San Francisco, 1952-53.
• Public relations representative, Shell Development Co., Emeryville, Calif., 1953-55.
• Western news bureau supervisor, General Electric Co., San Francisco, 1955-61.

COMMUNITY SERVICE:

• Trustee of University of Oregon Foundation; Santa Clara University; Leo Baeck School, Haifa, Israel; Mills College (chair of Strategic Planning Committee), Oakland, Calif.
• Trustee of Bellarmine College Preparatory, San Jose, Calif.
• Member, Board of Governors, Peninsula Jewish Community Center, Foster City, Calif.
• Member, Governing Board, San Francisco Opera Association.

• Past president, Public Relations Roundtable, San Francisco; the San Francisco Publicity Club; and the San Francisco chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists.

RECENT PHILANTHROPY:

• Total gifts of more than $425 million, most since 1990, with 98 percent going to universities and high schools. The largest amount, almost $132 million, has gone to the University of Oregon.
• University of Oregon—$74.5 million for faculty, graduate student and program support in the sciences and for other programs; $25 million for the new Integrative Science Complex; $12.5 million for the College of Education’s new complex; $10.4 million for the Faculty Excellence Awards program; $5 million for the School of Music and Dance building expansion and renovation; and $4.5 million for the School of Journalism and Communication’s new Portland program.
• Stanford University—Major gift to the School of Medicine for construction of stem cell laboratories, several endowed chairs, tuition grants, and lead gifts for a new chemistry/biology research laboratory and a new Stanford Daily publications building.
• Mills College—funds for a new child care center and a new master of business program and building.
• Alameda Elementary School in Portland—funds for a new library and classrooms, new wiring, and equipping of a new computer room.
• Leo Baeck School in Haifa, Israel—funds for the Lokey International Academy.

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