On Wednesday December 9 John Logue, the Founder of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center (OEOC) and OEOC Director for 23 years passed away, about a week after being diagnosed with cancer.  We counted him rich for his intellect, honesty, persistence, justice, generosity, and an absolute inability to be mean. Of most of these gifts, he was aware, but never boasted of them. Not a month before he died, before he knew of his mortal illness, he counted himself fortunate to have “a good wife, good children, good colleagues and a good job.”

He was not born a wealthy man, nor did he die as one, contented instead with the modest security of a professor’s life as he sought to help others create a similar security for themselves.  To staunch Ohio’s job losses from deindustrialization, in 1987 he founded the Ohio Employee Ownership Center, which helped tens of thousands to share in the ownership of the companies where they worked.   (From the OEOC web site: www.oeockent.org)

From CWCF:
John contributed much to CWCF and to our partner organization, the Western Labour Worker Co-op Council.  He will be missed.  I feel shocked and saddened by John's untimely death. The sadness is mixed with a feeling of having been fortunate to know him and be inspired by his vision and his presence. Some of my colleagues and I here in Canada had the opportunity to work with, and get to know, John Logue over the past three years, and prior. He gave so much of himself, contributed far beyond the call of duty and shared his vision of a more just world in a concrete and highly effective way – by helping to build it. Through the Western Labour Worker Co-op Council, I and others were able to work with John on attempted buy-outs as well as drafting of guides and a research paper. Although we had to work at a distance from each other, he frequently spent significant time on the phone with me or the group, imparting his knowledge for the benefit of workers in our communities affected by impending job loss, and he also went out of his way to meet with some of our group in Montreal. Our Council would not exist in its current form without John’s influence. I can also carry with me the fact that I was able to meet him once, at the Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy this past summer in Pittsburgh. John was with us far too briefly, but he leaves a legacy which will live on: in Ohio, in other parts of the US and also in Canada.

My sincere condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues at OEOC.

Hazel Corcoran
Executive Director, Canadian Worker Co-op Federation

To read more tributes, go to: http://johnlogue.blogspot.com/.