Charles F. (Chick) Moran
Served as IVP for 14 years
CHARLES F. (CHICK) Moran, who served the Brotherhood as an International vice president and International secretary-treasurer during a 26-year span, passed away December 7 at his home in Menlo Park, Calif. He was 94.
Moran began his Boilermaker career in 1940 when the Walsh-Holyoke Steam Boiler Works was first organized as Local 621 (Holyoke, Mass.). The lodge later merged with Local 29 (Boston). Starting at the boiler works as a tacker-helper, he later became a boilermaker-welder before accepting an International appointment as a district representative in 1946.
As a rep, Moran worked primarily out of Boston, covering manufacturing plants in Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire. He was instrumental in organizing 800 workers at a Cambridge Corp. facility, makers of components used in nuclear research. He also assisted members employed at Keystone Mfg. Co. in Boston in negotiating a group insurance benefit that was considered one of the best at that time.
Upon the death of International Vice President Bill Pendergast in 1959, Moran filled the position of IVP for New England (later the Northeast Section). He was reelected at each subsequent convention, giving up that office in 1973 to become International Secretary-Treasurer. He held that position until his retirement in 1986, at which time he continued to serve as IST Emeritus.
Throughout his career, Moran took advantage of labor education opportunities. In the late 1950s, he became one of the first Boilermakers to attend the School for Workers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He also attended the Harvard Trade Union Program.
In a 1986 interview with the Boilermakers-Blacksmiths Reporter (now the Boilermaker Reporter), Moran spoke about his 46-year career with the Brotherhood and the state of organized labor. He joked that International President Charles McGowan “recognized talent because he put me on the staff. He also fired me for six months. I think I was too smart for my own best interests.”
A firm believer in the importance of international labor affiliations, Moran represented the Brotherhood on the IMF, the International Metalworkers Federation. He told the Reporter, “I think international labor may well be the instrument of labor in the future.”
Moran is survived by his wife Marie (Ahern). In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, P.O. Box 50, Memphis, Tenn. 38101, to Special Olympics, 3480 Buskirk, Pleasant Hill, Calif. 94523, or to a charity of your choice.
