Organizer

Joseph A. Mulhern, 67, a plumber, activist and organizer in his home community of Grays Ferry, died Saturday at his home. At Plumbers Local 690, where he was a member for more than 40 years, Mr. Mulhern was known as the Silver Fox, probably because his hair was sleek and gray and because "he was as wise as a fox," said his wife, Helen S. Boyle Mulhern. Mr. Mulhern learned the plumbing trade at Dobbins Technical High School after World War II. For about 20 years, he worked for Hirsch, Arkin & Pinehurst Inc. in Roxborough.

OLIVER "ALI" Robinson had an imposing family legacy to live up to. His mother, Frances "Mom" Williams, was a legendary community leader and civil-rights icon. His older brother, the late Hardy Williams, was a state senator whose run for Philadelphia mayor in 1971, although unsuccessful, paved the way for other African-Americans to seek public office. Ali made his own reputation as a civic leader, political activist, and founder and leader of organizations devoted to providing services to often-neglected young people.

The only good that comes from tallying up my annual contribution to the MX missile is that, each April, I have to get organized. I have discovered over the years that the IRS doesn't really care what you did, as long as you can prove that you did it. This means that I spend frantic hours every tax season rummaging through the assorted briefcases, desk drawers and pockets of my work life in search of evidence: any scraps of paper that pass for...

Edward John Louis Wall Jr., 71, a longtime Philadelphia teacher and an early organizer of the teachers' union in the 1950s, died Saturday at Jeanes Hospital in Jenkintown. Mr. Wall worked with former Philadelphia Federation of Teachers' president John Ryan to gain collective-bargaining rights for teachers and to increase the membership of the union, which then included only 500 of the 10,000 teachers in the city. Ryan and Mr. Wall were students at La Salle University, where Mr. Wall attended classes during the day. At night, he worked at a steel mill to support his growing family.

About 60 Philadelphia teens and young adults worked in a summer jobs program with longtime community organizer William Mackey last year, but most never got paid. After the Daily News reported Tuesday that a federal grand jury may be investigating Mackey, word of the payless summer jobs came to light yesterday. For years Mackey headed the City Wide Youth Leadership Agency, but now faces criminal charges. In addition, a woman who said that Mackey caused a December 2006 car accident claimed that he failed to pay the "less than $1,000" in damages she was awarded in Small Claims Court.

This year's Rose Tree Summer Festival, which opened in Rose Tree Park in Upper Providence on June 12, has attracted more than 45,000 fans to date - about 4,000 more than at the same time last year, according to its organizer. The festival - which features a wide range of entertainment, from big-band music to theatrical performances - is more than one-third of the way into its season, with 21 of the scheduled 51 performances completed. And Marion Nelson, the organizer, is predicting a continued increase in the attendance rate with the arrival of some of the more popular acts.

Louis L. Kaplan, 83, a tough grassroots organizer in the labor movement for decades and secretary of the Pennsylvania Workmen's Compensation Board of Appeals under Gov. Milton Shapp, died of pneumonia May 6 at Virtua-West Jersey Hospital Marlton. A champion of progressive causes, Mr. Kaplan was also active in the civil-rights and antiwar movements of the 1960s. He had lived in Sicklerville, Camden County, for about the last 15 years and in Collingswood for much of the preceding 35 years.

When "Big Davis" was around, everyone knew it. And not just because he was 6-2 and weighed 330 pounds and didn't hesitate to speak his mind. Eddie Davis Sr., a Mount Airy resident who died Sunday at age 80, always seemed intent on improving the lives of those around him. As a worker in a Philadelphia rubber-products factory, he saw the importance of the labor movement for blacks, and became one of his union's first black organizers. As a resident of North Philadelphia, Davis saw that many young people lacked direction, and founded a community athletic club.

Alberta "Bertha" O'Farrell Gonzalez, 81, a farm worker and early labor organizer among migrant farm workers in New Jersey, died Friday at Memorial Hospital of Salem County in Mannington Township. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she settled in Mullica Hill in 1950 and lived there for much of her life before moving to Penns Grove. Early on, Mrs. Gonzalez was influenced by her mother, the late Maria Hernandez O'Farrell, who taught her to be independent and encouraged her to finish high school, according to a biographical sketch in Past and Promised Lives of New Jersey Women, published in 1990 under the direction of the Women's Project of New Jersey Inc. At age 4, Mrs. Gonzalez began attending a local town school in Puerto Rico where she was taught by Luisa Capetillo, one of the organizers of the Puerto Rico labor movement.

Ben Stahl, 82, of Center City, a labor organizer from the day he graduated from Temple University, died of heart failure Sunday at Allegheny University Hospitals/Hahnemann. Mr. Stahl actually became involved in the labor movement while still at Temple, where he was a leader of the Young Peoples Socialist League. When he graduated in 1936 with a bachelor's degree in history, he took a job as a teacher in Philadelphia for the Works Projects Administration. In 1943, Mr. Stahl joined the national Congress of Industrial Organizations staff as a field representative, working out of the Delaware office.