When Dan was the Director of Cornell’s Human Affairs Program (HAP), I was a graduate student in Cornell’s Department of City and Regional Planning. I met Dan at a party he gave for his friends and colleagues, including one of my professors, Cary Hershey. Cary had invited me and several other students to attend the party.
Because I thought that community organizing was an effective social change strategy, I asked Dan about HAP’s activities. Dan explained HAP’s new focus on institutions, such as banks, large corporations, prisons and utility companies, that affect people’s lives. He also told me stories–often very funny–about his travels across upstate New York, persuading local labor leaders and public officials to support municipal ownership of electric utilities. Dan could find humor in just about anything.
There was little humor, however, in Dan’s fight with HAP’s advisory board about his municipal utility ownership organizing effort. I admired Dan’s courage, his persistence and his commitment to HAP’s mission in the fight, especially in opposition to behemoths like Cornell and Niagara Mohawk, a large electric utility in upstate New York. Details of the fight are in Dan’s autobiography at danleahy.org.
I wish that I had known that Dan was ill. I certainly would have gotten in touch.
Rest in peace, Dan.
