NYSUT salutes retiring president Tom Hobart

Thomas Y. Hobart Jr., founding president of the New York State United Teachers, was roasted, toasted and celebrated during the NYSUT representative assembly in April. Hobart, who is retiring after 33 years as president of the AFT’s New York state affiliate, received thunderous applause from delegates as speaker after speaker paid tribute to his leadership in building what AFT executive vice president Antonia Cortese described as “this mighty union.”

Cortese, NYSUT’s former first vice president, spoke of the high standards Hobart set for fellow officers, urging them “to spend as much time as it takes” to meet members’ needs.

Delegates rose to their feet cheering when NYSUT secretary-treasurer Ivan Tiger announced that NYSUT’s state-of-the-art headquarters and conference center in suburban Albany would be named the Thomas Y. Hobart Jr. Office Building.

Noting that NYSUT and its members now own seven buildings throughout the state, Tiger said, “Tom’s vision and vigilant oversight of our operations have been the foundation for the fiscal stability that has allowed these structures to be built.”

An AFT vice president since 1974, Hobart is the longtime chairman of the national union’s advisory committee on state federations and serves on the AFT executive council’s democracy committee.

“Tom Hobart is one of the most outstanding teacher trade unionists I have ever had the opportunity to work with,” says AFT president Edward J. McElroy.

During the assembly, elections were held for NYSUT offices. Richard Iannuzzi, former president of the Central Islip Teachers Association and an AFT vice president, was elected to replace Hobart as president of the more than 525,000-member statewide union.

New to office are first vice president Maria Neira (formerly of the United Federation of Teachers) and second vice president Kathleen Donahue from the Hilton Central Teachers Association. Executive vice president Alan B. Lubin and secretary-treasurer Ivan Tiger both were re-elected. Niera, Lubin and Tiger are AFT vice presidents.