About Dan Leahy

Dan Leahy: A Short Biography

Dan Leahy was born and raised in Seattle. He attended St. Edward’s Seminary, Seattle University and lived in Turkey for two years as part of the Peace Corps. He entered NYU Graduate School, refused the draft, and became a community organizer for the Quakers. He ran a field study education and organizing center at Cornell University. Married Bethany Weidner and had two sons, JD Ross and Charles Barkley (JD named for one of the Seattle populists who fought the early energy companies and ran public utilities, and Chad whose middle name was in honor of one of the leaders of the Attica rebellion).

Dan organized a national political party, the Citizen’s Party, and a state party called Progress Under Democracy that successfully shut down four of the state’s five nuclear plants. He taught at The Evergreen State College from 1984-2008. He organized Washington State’s first Labor Education and Research Center and ran the New School of Union Organizers. In 2014, he organized a region-wide strategy summit to fight oil trains and worked in greek refugee camps in 2016 and 2017. He was instrumental in organizing his Westside Olympia neighborhood to fight City Hall and private developers.

Here is a chart outlining the Eras of Dan’s Organizing Work.

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Dan died at home in Olympia on December 10, 2022. He spent most of 2022 keeping pancreatic cancer at bay. Until 4 days before he died, he was engaged in his usual pursuits: reading new books, collaborating with neighbors, writing poems, fighting with the City of Olympia and getting better acquainted with his next generation (Juno and Inian).

Over the summer and fall, dozens of Dan’s students and friends traveled to Olympia to tell him about the role he played in who they had become. Two of them created this website, with Dan’s participation. Here is a link to his full obituary.

Portions of Dan’s Autobiography

Dan began writing portions of his autobiography. Portions can be read here online, or here is a link to a pdf of Portions for download.

Portions: Preface

I wanted to tell my sons that life does not proceed in a linear, predetermined fashion. Life, at least mine, is made up of a series of coincidences, guesses and lucky moves.

Portions, Chapter 1: The Seminary

“Dig that man with the crazy tan; he’s our Dan from the Irish clan.” Frankie Warner made that up.

Portions, Chapter 2: Seattle University

I don’t know where my organizational notions came from, but I certainly had them at Seattle University… It seems to be the beginning of my life long association with three ring binders.

Portions, Chapter 2: Seattle University

I don’t know where my organizational notions came from, but I certainly had them at Seattle University… It seems to be the beginning of my life long association with three ring binders.

Portions, Chapter 3: Family Ties

Place is an important marker. To be from a place. “I am Dan Leahy from Leahy, Washington.” Sounds good. I said it when I was lost or under attack. You have to come to some agreement with yourself about what identity to choose.

Portions, Chapter 4: The Peace Corps

The photo? The essence of modernity — a spin on reality to maintain the fiction of progress. A gift to the young American Peace Corps Volunteer who, after two years in the village, was just beginning to experience a critical thought.

Portions, Chapter 5: Marge and Me and the Fellows at NYU

It’s hard to tell my students these days, but I had a fellowship. Not only was my tuition free, but I was paid to read books.

Portions, Chapter 6: Lin Dodge and Learning at New York University

I saw poverty in those neighborhoods that I had never seen in Turkey. I mean this was New York City, the wealth capital of the world. I got mad. I’m still mad. What was I doing in Turkey? The problem seemed to be here.

Portions, Chapter 7: Refusing The Draft

The induction officer I was told had a baseball bat leaning up against the radiator in his office. Sure enough, when I entered the room, there it was. It was no doubt a defense against us killers.

Portions, Chapter 8: Writing my Dissertation

Herman said you could write a dissertation in two ways. You could start out with a thesis and see if you can verify it or you can do a bunch of research and see if you can come up with a thesis. I opted for the later approach since I could not come up with the former.