Lorry Lokey, z”l, died Oct. 1, 2022, at his Atherton, Calif., home. He was 95. He is survived by daughters, Basya Lokey, Miriam Khaka and Ann Lokey; seven grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Lokey was born in Portland Oct. 27, 1927.

Lokey was a longtime supporter of the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies at Portland State University. Lorry played a hugely significant role in the development of our program at a crucial moment of growth. Not only did he create the Lorry I. Lokey Chair in Judaic Studies at PSU, held by Natan Meir since the establishment of the position, but he also established two other very important funds in Judaic Studies at PSU, one for library acquisitions and the other to enable students and faculty to study and do research in Israel. His generosity has had a huge and lasting impact on the work of PSU’s Judiac studies department.

At the University of Oregon his gifts for academic programs and facilities ultimately totaled more than $150 million, he embarked on a rescue mission in 2004 that led him to jump-start six urgently needed building projects. Although he was never a student there, Lokey treated the UO as generously as his alma mater Stanford University and three of Israel’s leading universities.

Lokey attended Stanford University, from which he attained a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1949. He also served in the US Army during World War II. One constant in his life was his love of journalism: from being an editor of the Stanford Daily to his work on the Pacific Stars & Stripes to an early job for United Press. Combining his journalism and public relations experience led him to start Business Wire. 

Over the years, Lokey gave hundreds of millions of dollars to charity, much of it centered on education, medical advances and the Jewish community. His largesse stemmed from the success of his company, Business Wire, a press release distribution service he founded in San Francisco in 1961. The 2006 sale of that company to Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway for $600 million allowed Lokey to become one of the Bay Area’s most generous philanthropists.