John Fultz was a man of integrity and character, and he loved our union. He was a true Boilermaker.
John T. Fultz International Vice President Northeast Section
The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers will long remember International Vice President – Northeast John Fultz for his dedicated service to the Northeast Section and the union as a whole. Fultz passed away unexpectedly Aug. 13. He will be remembered as unshakable in his convictions and focused sharply on what mattered: the Boilermakers union and his work with the Boilermakers National Funds.
Fultz began building a lifetime career with the Boilermakers immediately after graduating from high school in Oswego, New York. Starting at age 18 as an apprentice with Local 175 (now Local 5, Zone 175), Fultz graduated as a journeyman in 1978 and worked as a field construction Boilermaker until 1997, when he was elected Business Manager/Secretary-Treasurer of his local. Over his 53-year Boilermaker career, Fultz was well respected, earning him appointments through the ranks from International Rep to Assistant Director—and then Executive Director—of Construction Sector Operations and Assistant Director of Administrative Affairs. As AD-CSO, Fultz was a vocal advocate for nuclear energy and championed the Vogtle Electric Generating Plant (Plant Vogtle) in eastern Georgia.
In 2017, the International Executive Council elected him to serve as IVP-Northeast upon the retirement of IVP David Haggerty. Fultz was reelected to five-year terms as IVP by each subsequent Consolidated Convention delegate body, most recently in July 2026.
Consultant Mike Bray, former owner of the contracting firm Shelby Mechanical and past president of MCI/Hake, remembered when he first met Fultz. Bray was in desperate need of an immediate Boilermaker workforce for a trash to steam project. Fultz, as BM-ST of L-5/Zone 175, met that need. That first encounter started a lifelong friendship between the two men.
“We became close,” Bray said. “I would run things by him, and he would do the same with me. He was a great man.” The two went on to serve on several boards supporting the union such as MOST, Common Arc, Annuity and BNAP to name a few.
“He was extremely conscientious and extremely loyal,” Bray said. “John did the right thing every time. He had an impeccable reputation and a charisma about him like no other. They broke the mold when they made him. He was one of a kind. When he passed, it left a great void.”
In addition to his duties as Northeast International Vice President, Fultz served on the boards of the Boilermakers National Health and Welfare Fund for 24 years and the Boilermaker-Blacksmith National Pension Trust for 10 years, as well as serving for 14 years as a representative on the Joint Committee on the Administration for the National Funds. He was instrumental in transitioning the Boilermakers National Funds to where it is today.
“Lots of people care, but John cared and got involved, which is not something everyone can say they did. And that was just him. In work and play and in everything he did, he went all out all the time and didn’t do anything halfway,” said Mario Rodriguez, BNF’s Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer.
He was courageous, unafraid to raise questions and challenge the status quo. After wrongdoing was discovered to have been committed by former International President Newton Jones, it was Fultz who filed the Article 17 charges which ultimately led to Jones being stripped of membership and ousted from office.
“Brother Fultz leaves a legacy of dedicated service to the members of our union, and he was a friend to all who knew him,” said International President Timothy Simmons. “John Fultz was a man of integrity and character, and he loved our union. He was a true Boilermaker.”
As much as Fultz dedicated his time to his work and Boilermaker-related activities, his first love was his family—his wife, Carol Fultz, and his children and grandchildren. His greatest days were when his entire family gathered at his home during the July Fourth holiday, according to the tribute his children wrote. He loved watching his grandchildren catch frogs from the pond, laugh and play, and ride the four-wheelers. He enjoyed being ‘Papa’ to his grandchildren.
As an avid outdoorsman, who loved working on his property, Fultz enjoyed hunting and fishing and was a long-time participant in the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance Kansas City sporting clays fundraising shoot. In recent years, he’d became a personal champion of USA’s Boilermakers Get Youth Outdoors.
In all he did, Fultz had an eye to the future and encouraged everyone around him to do the same. It’s a gift imprinted upon all who knew him. “John wasn’t afraid of change, and he instilled that in us,” said Christine King, BNF Managing Director and Director of Retirement Plans. “We’re always trying to look forward. John encouraged that. He wanted us to do that. He would want us to do that now.”
