Leon Lynch

Leon Lynch (June 4, 1935 - May 4, 2012) was an American trade union leader. He was the first African American to be an international vice president of any major labor union, serving in that role for the United Steelworkers from 1976 to 2006. He was elected to the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO in 1995 and served on that body until he retired in 2008. He was co-chair of the A. Philip Randolph Institute and a member of the Democratic National Committee.

Early life and education Lynch was born in Edwards, Mississippi, in 1935 to Herman Lynch, a mill worker, and Ethel Marie (née Lyles) Lynch, a restaurant cook, dry cleaning and domestic worker. When he was a boy, the family of eight migrated to Gary, Indiana, where he attended public school, graduating from Theodore Roosevelt High School.

Early career In 1956, Lynch began working as a pipe mill loader in the Youngstown Sheet & Tube steel mill in East Chicago, Indiana, where he joined the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) - Local 1011.

In this new role, he chaired the Steelworkers’ Container Industry Conference, where he handled contract negotiations, and the Public Employees Conference. Subsequently, he was elected and re-elected for six consecutive four-year terms until he retired from the USW in 2006.

During his lengthy tenure, Lynch acted as a bridge between the union movement and the civil rights movement, serving as national chairman of the A. Philip Randolph Institute, an executive committee member of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and a leader in the U.S. struggle against South African apartheid. At his request, his friend, Coretta Scott King, persuaded her father-in-law, the Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr., to speak at an organizing rally at Newport News, Virginia. The community responded by filling a stadium.

Other roles

Lynch was elected to the AFL-CIO Executive Council in 1995, serving on committees that included Civil and Human Rights, Immigration, Legislative/Public Policy, and Safety and Occupational Health.

In 2005, USW Local 1011 in East Chicago, where Lynch began his career and union membership, dedicated the Leon Lynch Learning Center. The facility supports steelworkers by providing them with updated skills and training to prepare them for opportunities in today’s changing job market. In 1998, he married Doris Tindal. In 2006, upon retirement from the USW, he and his wife moved to Bullhead City, Arizona. A few years later, he also purchased a home in Collierville, Tennessee, near one of his adult children and youngest grandchild. Lynch died on May 4, 2012, of cancer in Memphis, Tennessee. His wife, daughters and seven grandchildren survived him.