Walking down the halls of the University music school, philanthropist Lorry Lokey encounters a student playing the piano in the hallway. There are not enough practice rooms, and the ones that are filled still have music pouring out through the “soundproof” walls.
As a lover of the symphony and as a man who refers to music as the dessert of life, Lokey found this intolerable. While he never attended the University and made a habit of not donating to public institutions, he decided to make a difference. A $5 million difference to start.
“It’s exciting as hell when a building goes up and (you) walk through it and see what’s going on,” said Lokey, who has given $47 million to different University departments in the last couple years.
Lokey, 79, made his money founding an international media relations company in the early 1960s, which he sold in 2006 for $150 million.
“Long before I began giving big money, I was giving a thousand there and a thousand here, not a million here and a million there,” Lokey said, who also gives a small percentage of his donations to the arts.
University president Dave Frohnmayer said he understood that Lokey traditionally didn’t make donations to public universities, but he stressed the importance of private philanthropy contributing to the University’s success.
“He became quite interested. Maybe much more than he expected to be,” Frohnmayer said, adding that Lokey likes to see his donations make a difference and he saw a possibility for that at the University.
Lokey said it was the tour of the music school that made an impact on him, even though he believes it is the state legislature’s responsibility to fund public institutions.
“I’m very unhappy that at least 22 states don’t support their public schools, and Oregon is one of the worst,” Lokey said. “The legislature and politicians, generally, in this country aren’t recognizing how important education is.”
The music school renovation is scheduled to be completed in about 18 months, Frohnmayer said. While Lokey’s name won’t be on the building, he did ask that an influential woman within the music school be the building’s namesake.
“He said, ‘Nobody knows me here, so let’s name it for somebody who was known for supporting music in this region,’” Frohnmayer said, recalling the touching speech Lokey gave when dedicating the building to Frohnmayer’s mother, MarAbel.
After the music school donation Lokey kept finding more projects he was interested in funding. He gave $25 million for the new Integrative Science Complex, $12.5 million for the College of Education’s new complex, and $4.5 million for the School of Journalism and Communication’s new Portland program, according to media relations.
Lokey also pays tribute to his Northeast Portland elementary school, Alameda (then K-8), which he publicly acknowledges as the school that set him on the road to success.
“He feels it’s very important to give back to teachers and educational environments,” said Teri Geist, the current principal of Alameda.
Geist said Lokey has become a close friend and has made some very generous contributions to the school. She describes him as intelligent, funny and above all, humble.
“Humility is difficult when you are somebody who can give away millions of dollars to charity every year,” she said.
Geist said she remembers talking to Lokey about giving to the University, which he was very hesitant about.
“I said ‘If you love Alameda so much you ought to think about giving money to a university that trains teachers that work at schools like Alameda,’” Geist said.
Lokey attended Grant High School in Portland before attending Stanford where he earned a degree in journalism in 1949. Before graduation Lokey fought in World War II and worked as an editor of “Pacific Stars & Stripes,” a publication in Tokyo.
After working as a beat reporter for Longview Daily News in Washington state, Lokey decided to pursue public relations in San Francisco, where he founded Business Wire, a commercial news distributor, in 1961 with only one part-time employee and seven clients.
Within 14 months the company was worth $25,000, and continued to grow until he sold it to Berkshire Hathaway in 2006 for $150 million, he said.
“It’s harder giving it away than earning it,” Lokey said. “You have to weigh where you’re giving it.”
Lokey said he plans on taking his 6th trip to Israel in a few months and is looking forward to seeing how his donations will make a difference at the University.
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