Joanne E. Harrington and Lorry I. Lokey Endowed Scholarship

The Joanne E. Harrington and Lorry I. Lokey Endowed Scholarship Fund was established in 1996 by Lorry I. Lokey.

Lorry I. Lokey, 80, is the founder and CEO/chairman emeritus of Business Wire, the international media relations wire service headquartered on three upper floors of 44 Montgomery St. in San Francisco.

He moved permanently to San Francisco in late 1952 and held several positions before establishing Business Wire on Oct. 2, 1961:He is a native of Portland, Ore., and graduated from Alameda Elementary and Grant High schools. A graduate of Stanford University (’49) with a B.A. degree in journalism and former editor of The Stanford Daily (Vol. 115 in 1949), Lokey acquired his knowledge of wire services as night wire editor for United Press (now UPI) in Portland. Lokey also was a reporter on the Longview (Wash.) Daily News (1950-52), and feature editor of Pacific Stars & Stripes, Tokyo, during World War II service, 1946.

Lokey began donating large sums of money to charities in 1990. By 2007 98 percent of his donations was given to secondary and post-secondary education. Some schools include the University of Oregon, Mills College, Stanford University, the Technion, Santa Clara University, Bellarmine College Preparatory, and Portland State University. These efforts led to his listing as one of the ten highest donors in the United States by the Chronicle of Philanthropy in 2006.

Lorry Lokey and Joanne Harrington have been married for over 25 years. Lokey also funded substantial renovations to the library, dedicating his wife’s name to the now “Harrington Learning Commons, Sobrato Technology Center and Orradre Library.”