Local Leaders: Smith, Abraham Die

MICHIGAN

Nathaniel Smith Jr., president of Detroit Board of Education Employees Local 345 (Council 25), passed away on Oct. 5, 2000.

Affectionately known as “the Godfather,” Smith was a labor leader and an AFSCME member for more than 38 years. He served on Council 25’s study committee, which formulated policy, was a council vice president, and a member of AFSCME’s Judicial Panel for 13 years.

Joseph Abraham, president of Local 1603 (Council 25), in Flint, Mich., for two decades, died last August. Abraham, who worked at the Hurley Medical Center, also served as president of the Greater Flint AFL-CIO. A native Southerner, he moved North as a young man and became a political force in his adopted home area.