Walter J. Logan, 88, contractor

WALTER JAMES Logan Sr. was a real-estate broker and contractor with a strong social conscience.

Through his work, he was determined to help people of low incomes become homeowners.

He did this by building affordable housing and encouraging people to stop being renters and own their own homes.

He built more than 175 homes in the Delaware Valley over the 35 years he was in business and made many people who didn't think they could own property into happy homeowners.

Walter Logan, one of the legendary "Tuskegee Airmen" in World War II, an active churchman and a man who liked to chill out to the beat of jazz and blues music, died Tuesday.

He was 88 and lived in Gulph Mills.

He was born in Atlanta, the youngest boy of the 12 children of Katie and Lloyd Logan Sr. He attended schools there and eventually came to Philadelphia.

When the war broke out, he served first at Sheppard Field in Wichita Falls, Texas, then transferred to the Tuskegee Institute, in Alabama, where he was trained as a fighter pilot.

After the war, he married Beatrice Claudia Augusta at Pinn Memorial Baptist Church, in Wynnefield, of which both were members. He attended Drexel Institute of Technology, now Drexel University, after which he obtained his real-estate license and became a homebuilder and developer.

He later continued his real-estate activities in Upper Darby and King of Prussia. His first marriage ended in divorce and he married the late Sandra Gail Venuto, of Darby. Walter became active with the Central Baptist Church, in Wayne, where he was a trustee, and later attended Upper Merion Baptist, in King of Prussia.

A devoted family man, Walter enjoyed get-togethers at his home with family and friends. He enjoyed playing cards, shooting pool and dancing to jazz and the blues from his extensive record collection. He also enjoyed golf.

"His door was always open," his family said.

He is survived by three daughters, Judith Royal, Twila and Heidi; three sons, Walter Jr., Kenneth and Frank; five grandchildren, and one great-grandchild.

Services: 11 a.m. Monday at Upper Merion Baptist Church, 585 General Steuben Road, King of Prussia. Friends may call at 10 a.m. Burial will be in Valley Forge Memorial Gardens. *