FLINT, Mich. (AP) - Cal Rapson, a retired leader in the United Auto Workers and longtime labor activist in the Flint area, has died, the union said Wednesday.
A cause and Rapson’s age weren’t disclosed.
Rapson was a college student when he spent the summer of 1965 working at a General Motors engine plant in Flint. By 2010, more than 40 years later, he retired as a UAW vice president who had negotiated contracts with GM, General Dynamics and other major companies.
“Our brother, Cal Rapson, always described himself as a Flint man, but he was far more than that,” UAW President Rory Gamble. “He was an activist, a dedicated leader and a fighter for UAW members and America’s working families.”
Genesee County prosecutor David Leyton credited Rapson with helping him get the Democratic Party’s nomination for attorney general in 2010. They met for pizza earlier this year.
“He knew everybody, and they knew him,” Leyton said. “Cal was a man of the people. There was nothing haughty about him. He was all about helping working families. He was a Flint and Genesee County guy through and through.”
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