John & Nancy Sheehan

John Joseph ""Jack"" Sheehan
1926 - 2017
Jack Sheehan, age 91, husband, father, brother, uncle, friend, and, in the words of one of his many colleagues, ""one of the truly great labor activists"", passed on Thursday, 21 December 2017. He was 91.

Born in 1926 in New York City, Jack spent his career - from 1959 to 1996 - in Washington DC as Legislative Director of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA). Jack Sheehan had a hand in the passage of much of the progressive legislation produced in Washington DC during his long tenure with the USWA. He was hired by the union's first president, Philip Murray, and worked for the succeeding five USWA presidents. Hundreds of bills passed by Congress during nine U.S. presidencies bore the imprint of the USWA's influence because of his work.

Jack advocated ardently for legislation benefitting all working Americans, and was one of the major advocates for and drivers of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the founding of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., the federal agency guaranteeing private pension plans. ERISA eventually proved to be of much benefit to the union's members, though at the time it was framed, Jack stated, ""it was just the idea of social injustice.''

Jack also had a hand in the development of laws that formed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which oversees workplace safety, and the Mine Safety and Health Administration, OSHA's counterpart in the mining industry. He was always willing to help think through strategic questions or to speak with a member of Congress when the protection of workers was at issue. He lobbied for much other legislation supporting civil rights, civil liberties, voting rights, trade, education, health care, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. He was also a founder of the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and served on its Board of Directors. The CFA grew into a nationwide advocate for consumer issues, working closely with Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumers Report.

His greatest contribution, however, may have been in environmental activism. Jack Sheehan essentially made the environment a union issue in the 1960s. Through Jack, the USWA advocated passionately for every major environmental bill and persuaded the USWA to support the Clean Air Act of 1963. Under Jack's leadership, the USWA held its first union-wide environmental conference in 1969, a year before the first Earth Day whose founder, Senator Gaylord Nelson, spoke at the USWA conference. With Jack's driving support, the USWA became a founding member of the National Clean Air Coalition. Environmentalists at times praised the USWA for its pro-environmental stance despite its status as a ""smokestack union"". ""You don't understand,"" Jack would respond, ""we're environmental because we're a smokestack union.""

Jack was a long-time national board member and later honorary trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and served as well on the advisory board of the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) in Washington. He fully understood the global nature of environmental issues, and in his 1991 testimony before the Senate Finance Committee stated that, ""given current warming trends"" environmental policy ""can no longer be exclusively national in scope"".

Jack was briefly succeeded by his wife, Nancy Everitt Sheehan, loving homemaker and former secretary to the President of the USW, who also died in Madison, Wisconsin the morning after his passing. He is succeeded by his daughter, Nancy Ann Sheehan, his son-in-law, Jeffrey Klenk, and his two grandchildren, Patrick and Julia Sheehan-Klenk of Madison, Wisconsin; his son Timothy T. Sheehan of Atlanta, Georgia; his brother Walter Sheehan of Washington DC; his nephew James Everitt of Houston, Texas; and his two nieces, Nancy Everitt Strickland of Reno, Nevada and Sara Everitt of Oakland, California.

Funeral services for John and Nancy will be held at 11 am on Friday, January 5, 2018 ST. MARIA GORETTI CATHOLIC CHURCH, 5313 Flad Ave., Madison with Father Robert Evenson presiding. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Natural Resources Defense Council to honor the lives of Jack and Nancy Sheehan. Please see http://www.nrdc.org/honor .

Please share your memories of Jack.



Nancy Everitt Sheehan
1927 - 2017
Nancy Everitt Sheehan, age 90, passed away on December 22, 2017 the morning after the passing of her husband of 56 years, John J. ""Jack"" Sheehan.

Nancy was born in New Bethlehem, PA on 13 February 1927. She's remembered by her oldest high school friend as the brightest in the class and, indeed, was the salutatorian of her high school graduating class. She attended Grove City College where she received her Associate Degree after which she joined the United Steelworkers union and worked in the secretarial pool. Nancy completed her BA at the University of Pittsburgh and continued to work for the USW as the administrative assistant to I.W. Able, a USW executive in Pittsburgh. After a ten-year courtship, Jack and Nancy married in 1961 and moved from Pittsburg to Washington DC where they lived for over 40 years.

Nancy was devoted to her children and grandchildren, bringing joy to them through song, games, and baking. She loved the birds by the sea in North Carolina and the many dogs and cats that were her companions throughout her long life. Nancy struggled for the last 10 years of her life with Alzheimer's disease yet her loving soul continued to shine for the family members and caregivers who were greeted daily with her easy smile. Upon her passing, one caregiver said, ""I'll never forget Nancy. Now who's going to give me kisses and tell me I'm pretty?"".

She is succeeded by her daughter, Nancy Ann Sheehan, her son-in-law, Jeffrey Klenk, and her two grandchildren, Patrick and Julia Sheehan-Klenk of Madison, Wisconsin; her son Timothy T. Sheehan of Atlanta, Georgia; her nephew James Everitt of Houston, Texas; and her two nieces, Nancy Everitt Strickland of Reno, Nevada and Sara Everitt of Oakland, California.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Natural Resources Defense Council to honor the lives of Jack and Nancy Sheehan. Please see http://www.nrdc.org/honor .

Please share your memories of Nancy.

Cress Funeral & Cremation Service
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