Alum to UW: Thanks a million (as in bucks)

It's doubtful the hundreds of Ballard High School history students Don Logan taught over the course of nearly two decades knew much about his second life.

That second life allowed Logan to donate $1 million a few weeks ago to the University of Washington's Department of History, where he earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees.

UW's windfall is the result of years of quiet, astute real-estate investing by Logan.

He recently liquidated his holdings — five apartment buildings and a historic home on Capitol Hill — and netted $5.4 million after taxes. That's a long way from what Logan, now 72, remembered earning as a teacher. His annual salaries ranged from less than $5,000 to around $35,000.

"It's called payback," Logan said about his endowment to the History Department. "The school was an enormous help to me and was a major factor in my life."

He says he can't forget the great teachers he had there. Those included professors who've passed away — such as Giovanni Costigan, W. Stull Holt and Max Savelle — and one still alive, Tom Pressly.

"They just brought to me a real awareness and insight about the way things are," Logan said.

At the UW's History Department, which has 45 faculty members and 100 graduate students, the gift was pleasant news.

"About 10 years ago or so, there was a rough scale of faculty salaries. I think only professors of English and philosophy were below us," said John Findlay, chair of the department. "There's not much market for historians outside of the university."

Money from the Donald W. Logan Family Endowed Chair in American History will help fund a faculty member's salary, research and travel funds, graduate-student support and a lecture series on the Civil War.

"He's a funny guy," Findlay said about Logan. "I think the University of Washington meant a lot to him. He explained how he showed up raw and rough, and just feels fortunate at what he was taught."

Logan earned his bachelor's degree from UW in 1956. He served two years as an Army infantry officer, taught at Blaine Junior High School from 1960 to 1967, then went back to the UW to earn a master's degree. He taught at Ballard High School from 1968 to 1986.

Throughout his teaching career, Logan kept investing in real estate. His first purchase was in 1959, when he bought a $15,000 home on 11th Avenue East that had three apartments upstairs. His young family lived downstairs.

"Back then, you could pick up a house for $2,000 down," said Logan. He had received $1,000 in a settlement from a car accident, and his wife had another $1,000 in savings.

Over the next decade, he bought five more homes that he fixed up and rented out. He'd do the financial paperwork by pencil on a card table in the living room.

"I'd get four or five hours sleep a night," said Logan. "I guess I had good genetics."

In the 1970s, Logan, then a divorced father of three, and his brother, Richard, began investing in apartment buildings on Capitol Hill. (Don Logan later bought out his brother.) They paid $75,000 down for four apartment buildings with a combined 90 units.

"Remember, those were very dark days in Seattle. The economy was terrible," Logan said. "Those were the days of, 'Will the last one to leave Seattle turn off the lights.' I took a chance."

During his teaching career, Logan never talked much about his business dealings.

"Oh, I think some people knew I was interested in real estate, but not much more," he said.

They wouldn't have had an inkling of the scope of the wealth that Logan was accumulating. Certainly not by the car he drove to school.

"I had a beater car. What the hell was that thing? I think a 1965 Chevy wagon," said Logan. "I never had a flashy car."

Until now. These days, Logan drives an $82,000 handcrafted Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG.

The money from his real-estate investments is plenty for a comfortable retirement, and to share with his children.

While Logan is now giving back to UW, he's also received some rewarding and unexpected payback of his own from his teaching career.

One time, while in his car at a supermarket parking lot, someone knocked on his window. It was Ed, a former student.

"He said, 'I wanted to thank you for caring about us,' " Logan said. "That blew me away."