Former Urban League head, EPB chairman Warren Logan dies
Warren E. Logan Jr., the former president of the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga and chairman of Chattanooga’s EPB, died Saturday. He was 73.
Logan headed Chattanooga’s Urban League for more than 25 years before retiring from the civil rights group at the end of 2020. He also served as chairman of the Tennessee Urban League Affiliates, a statewide collaborative of Urban League organizations in Tennessee’s four major cities.
A graduate of Tennessee State University, Logan previously served as a Tennessee Valley Authority manager of energy conservation programs and was executive director of the Office of Minority Business Enterprise and the statewide Business Development Centers.
Logan has served on the EPB board for more than two decades and was elected chairman of the city-owned utility in July 2019. He also served on the boards of CHI Memorial hospital and the Chattanooga Advisory Board and previously was president of the Association of Executives and the National Urban League, and was a member of the National Urban League board of trustees and executive committee. He led a national African-American Leadership Delegation to Beijing, China, in 2012, a relationship-building and collaboration visit established by the Urban League and the Cultural Mission to China.
As head of the local Urban League from 1995 through 2020, Logan helped build the organization into a national model for Urban League chapters, adding job training, tax assistance and business development programs.
“Warren and I have been close friends for three decades and I am deeply saddened beyond measure,” said Albert Waterhouse, chairman of the board for the Urban League of Greater Chattanooga. “As we mark the tremendous loss of a dedicated advocate for inclusiveness and equality, we find comfort in the legacy he created that will continue to impact countless individuals throughout our community for years to come.”
Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger said Logan “was a true community servant and my friend.”
Logan was succeeded earlier this month as president of the local Urban League by Candy Johnson, a former senior policy advisor to Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke. Johnson praised Logan and said “he built an extraordinary legacy that will continue to inspire others for decades to come.”
When he retired last month, Logan said he “never imagined how profoundly our organization would shape the journey to racial equality in our community.
“It has been a tremendous honor to serve my brothers and sisters in pursuit of equal opportunity for all,” Logan said.
Logan is survived by his wife Linda and two adult daughters. Funeral arrangements are being handled by the John P. Franklin Funeral Home.