SAMUEL HIRSCH

HIRSCH--Samuel, life-long labor and civil rights activist and U.S. Army veteran, died on December 2, 2009 at the age of 86. Sam was co-founder of the Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition with the late Rev. Robert Kennedy at a time of plant closings and eroding workers' rights. He was instrumental in the passage of lead paint regulations, worked tirelessly for heath care reform, and was very active in the civil rights struggles in the 1960s and in the movement to end apartheid in South Africa. Earlier he was active in the painters' and the culinary workers' unions, and a target of McCarthyism. In the 1970s, while on the staff of the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union, Sam played an important role in helping southern textile workers secure their first contract with textile giant, J.P. Stevens, and then became an organizer with Corporate Campaign, Inc. from 1981 until his death. A memorial will be held on Tuesday, February 9 at the Tamiment Library, NYU, 70 Washington Square South, 10th Floor, Manhattan, with a reception at 6pm, followed by a tribute at 7pm. RSVP appreciated: info@corporatecampaign.org or (718) 852-2808.