Reilly, an acknowledged expert on the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848, died two years ago following a long battle with prostate cancer at age 67. Reilly left the university more than $400,000 in his will.

"Tom would be pleased to know that all of his hard work on behalf of the university has put to such good use," said Marcella Tyler, executor of Reilly's estate. "He would particularly enjoy the fact that the editorial offices of the Sundial are being named in his honor. He really gave his all for our students."

A reception and dedication ceremony for the naming will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 8, at the Daily Sundial editorial offices in Manzanita Hall, which is located at the southwest corner of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

Reilly spent more than 30 years as a journalism professor at Cal State Northridge, including two terms as department chair--from 1981 to 1985 and again from 1990 to 1998. During his years at the university, he taught beginning and advanced reporting, journalism history, mass communications, magazine article writing and graduate seminars.

Under the terms of Reilly's will, the university received his personal research papers on the history of journalism, including a major collection of books, newspapers and other documents concerning the United States press and Mexico during the period of the U.S.-Mexican War. This collection will be held and conserved by the Oviatt Library's Special Collections and Archives area. Some of the collection is on permanent display in the library's Tom Reilly Faculty Reading Room.

Reilly established an endowment for the library's Urban Archives Center to support research, writing and publication related to the themes and content of the materials he donated.

The former journalism chair's will also created an endowment for the establishment of the "Tom Reilly Student Journalism Enterprise Fund" to support student projects that are part of the students' curriculum, particularly in the areas of news reporting and presentation.

The two endowments totaled more than $400,000.

Reilly, who at the time of his death was completing a book on the role of the media in the Mexican-American War, was the author of numerous articles, including "The New Orleans War Press: 1846-1848," in "Journalism History;" "Lincoln and the Press" and "The Press and the Mexican War," in "History of the Mass Media in the United States: An Encyclopedia;" "A Spanish-Language Voice of Dissent in Antebellum New Orleans," in "Louisiana History XXIII," and "Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 Forced New Role on the Press," in "Journalism Quarterly."

He was founding editor of "Journalism History," an academic journal devoted to the study of communication history, and served as editor from 1974 to 1985.

In addition to his teaching and writing, Reilly traveled extensively in both China and India. He was a Peace Corps volunteer from 1966-68, serving as consultant in mass communications to the Family Planning Department of Bombay, India.

While on sabbatical leave in l985 and l986, he served as an adviser to the New China News Agency in Beijing, the largest international news agency in China. While there, he spoke to journalism students at six Chinese universities and to New China News Agency bureaus in Chengdu, China, and Lhasa, Tibet, where he was the first foreigner allowed to speak to the staff.

From 1953 to 1961, Reilly served as reporter, copy editor, sports editor and assistant to the managing editor of the Van Nuys News (now Daily News), with two years off in the Army as an information specialist. For the next five years he served as public information officer for the Los Angeles City Schools.

Reilly was a member of the Community Advisory Board of public television station KCET from 1996 until his death. He was a co-founder of the West Coast Journalism Historians Association and from 1975 to 1979 served as program chairperson for the group's annual conferences.

There are more than 450 students from a variety of backgrounds enrolled in Cal State Northridge's journalism program, which offers training in several fields--newspapers, radio and television broadcasting, on-line media, magazines, public relations and photojournalism.