CHICAGO, July 24 (UPI) -- Long-time labor leader Robert M. Healey, former head of the Chicago Teachers Union and past president of the influential Chicago Federation of Labor, died Monday of lung cancer.
Healey was 72.
He was "a great labor leader," said Mayor Richard M. Daley, who called Healey a "champion for Chicago's educators as president of the Chicago Teachers Union and for the working men and women of this city as president of the Chicago Federation of Labor."
A former high school English teacher, Healey began his rise in the labor movement in the late 1960s, serving as secretary-treasurer of the Chicago Teachers Union and as president from 1972 to 1984 becoming a fixture in local political circles. He also was president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers from 1971 to 1989 and vice president of the American Federation of Teachers from 1974 to 1990.
Healey was a member of the Illinois Labor Relations Board from 1994 until 1999 and retired last spring as director of the State Labor Department. He also served as director, deputy chairman and chairman of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago from 1991 to 1997.
Illinois Gov. George Ryan praised Healey as "a great advocate for working men and women throughout his career, until the very end of his life."
Friends remembered the soft-spoken Healey as a devoted family man, an avid reader with a love of poetry, an Irish gift of gab and an instinctive sense of moral indignation when the rights of working people were trampled. He helped turn teachers unions from docile organizations into progressive, non-partisan forces in state politics that fought for reduced class sizes and higher teacher salaries, paid vacations and adequate health care.
In 1946, Healey lied about his age and joined the U.S. Army at 16 serving as a military police officer in Korea until 1948. He earned a bachelor's degree from DePaul University and a master's degree from the University of Chicago.
"The most important thing about him would be the sense of vitality he brought to every organization he was part of," former Chicago Federation of Labor President Don Turner told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Healey is survived by Catheleen, his wife of 30 years, four daughters and three sons.
Visitation was scheduled Thursday at Drake & Sons Funeral Home with mass on Friday at Old St. Patrick's Cathedral. Burial will be private.
