Dan Leahy, a great human being, an inspiring and effective organizer, a builder of left institutions, and a great teacher, inside and outside of the classroom died of pancreatic cancer, December 10, 2022. Dan was also a community and neighborhood organizer, an excellent researcher of the power elite, a wonderful father, husband and friend.

With Dan’s advice and consultation, two his closest friends, Melissa Roberts and Stephanie Guilloud, created a website about his life, his organizing and relevant lessons for those of us committed to creating a just world, danleahy.org. I strongly recommend you check it out, whether you knew Dan or not.

Just one example of Dan’s effectiveness was the leading role he played in stopping the operation of two nuclear power plants in the early 1980’s, near Olympia, where we both live. They still stand there, almost fully constructed but never producing nuclear power.

I had the honor of teaching with Dan at the undergraduate and graduate level at the Evergreen State College five times. He was student centered, always prepared, often sharing charts that synthesized Dan’s insightful political economic analysis and his strategic insights. Many of these informative charts are on his website. His mentoring of first-generation college students was exemplary. He made a major difference in many, many students lives. 

I also observed Dan giving talks, classes and organizing workshops and conferences, when teaching groups of workers. He always challenged these workers in a respectful manner to understand more deeply the political economic context of their working conditions and the society in which they lived. He presented in an accessible manner lessons from history for these workers and students to work collectively to build and confront power and to further economic and social justice. He also created spaces for workers to share experiences and learn from each other.  

Besides being a good friend, I have learned so much from Dan. So have many others.

Let us honor Dan Leahy by organizing at a local, national and global level for a non-capitalist world.

Dan Leahy Presente!