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Today, we celebrate the life and legacy of Roy Reuther, born on this day in 1909 in Wheeling, West Virginia. Roy was the brother of Walter and Victor Reuther and played a crucial and often underappreciated role in the UAW's success. After attending Wheeling High School, Mr. Reuther took an apprenticeship with an electrical firm and joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in 1927. Laid off from his job in Wheeling, Reuther joined his brothers in Detroit in 1932. He became interested in labor education while a student at the City College of Detroit (now Wayne State University). He obtained a job as an instructor for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (F.E.R.A.) and attended the Wisconsin School for Workers and Brookwood Labor College. Reuther also served as a faculty member at Brookwood until his return to Detroit in 1936. Roy obtained a job at the Chevrolet Gear and Axle plant and joined the UAW. He became an assistant organizing director of the UAW in Flint and was an important leader and strategist of the 1936-1937 sit-down strike against General Motors. In fact, it was Reuther who came up with the plan that enabled strikers to take control of Chevrolet Plant No. 4, which manufactured engines for all Chevy assembly plants across the country. The workers' success in taking over Chevy 4 was seen as a major turning point in the strike, and they would ultimately emerge victorious. During World War II, Reuther took a leave of absence from the UAW to serve as a labor information specialist with the War Production Board (WPB). He briefly served in the U.S. Army before being recalled to the WPB. Reuther married Fania Sonkin in 1944 and had two sons, Alan and David. Roy and Fania had first met as students at Brookwood Labor College. Reuther returned to the UAW, serving as administrative assistant to UAW Vice President John W. Livingston from 1948 until 1949, when he became administrative assistant to his brother, UAW President Walter Reuther. Roy also served as director of the UAW Citizenship Department and Citizenship-Legislative Department. He was a supporter of California farm workers and also developed a close association with President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert F. Kennedy. He continued to faithfully serve the UAW until his death due to a heart attack on January 10, 1968, at the age of 58. Roy’s and Fania’s ashes are buried at Black Lake, along with Walter’s and his wife May’s, and Victor’s and his wife Sophie’s. They are near one another on a small island across from the main building of the Walter and May Reuther Education Center. Remembering Reuther, UAW Secretary-Treasurer Emil Mazey and Vice Presidents Leonard Woodcock and Pat Greathouse wrote in a statement: "He was a leader and a member of the UAW. He belonged to all of us in the labor movement, and indeed, to all of humanity." 📸 Pancho Medrano Papers - UTA Libraries Digital Gallery