Groen: Wendell Young III Was 'Truly a Giant'
Montgomery County Democratic Committee Chairman Marcel L. Groen remembers president emeritus of Local 1776 and longtime Pennsylvania labor leader Wendell W. Young III, who passed away on Jan. 1.
In a world where we too often use the word "giant" or "great" to describe someone, I can honestly say that for me Wendell Young III was truly a giant as a labor leader and someone who spent his life fighting for people. I first heard of Mr. Young when I worked in the Bill Green for Mayor campaign in the spring of 1971. People would tell me how close he was to Bill Green and how influential a labor leader he was. That was 42 years ago. It never occurred to me that he was only 32 years old. Even then he had already achieved heights in the labor movement that few reach. Over the years I watched how innovative and caring he was for his members; how he recognized the importance of child care, before it was popular to do so, so single moms …
