Labor · 1907–1970Walter Reutherpresident of the United Auto Workers (1946–1970)Tool-and-die maker who became the UAW's longest-serving president, building one of America's most powerful and progressive unions from Detroit.DETROIT / A living lexicon / ¼
Famous Detroiters
People who were born here, moved here or built their careers in Detroit: musicians, carmakers, athletes, writers, inventors, civil-rights leaders and a few notorious names. With their dates, their Detroit story and the places where they lived, worked and played, closed ones included.
- 1,912 famous people
- 135 Detroit places
- 19 fields
Hungarian ties 22 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
7 people
Clear filtersLabor · 1907–1970Walter Reutherpresident of the United Auto Workers (1946–1970)Tool-and-die maker who became the UAW's longest-serving president, building one of America's most powerful and progressive unions from Detroit.
Labor · 1908–1981Frank FitzsimmonsTeamsters president (1971–1981)Detroit truck driver and Jimmy Hoffa loyalist from Local 299 who ran the Teamsters while Hoffa was in prison and then kept the presidency.
Labor · 1907–1977Richard FrankensteenUAW vice president, labor organizerDetroit-born Dodge worker and UAW vice president who was beaten beside Walter Reuther at the 1937 Battle of the Overpass and ran for mayor in 1945.
Labor · 1901–1968Homer Martinsecond president of the United Auto Workers (1936–1939)Former Baptist preacher who led the UAW from its Detroit headquarters through the great sit-down strikes of 1936–1937, then split the union.
Labor · 1909–1968Roy ReutherUAW organizer and political directorMiddle Reuther brother, a leader of the 1936–1937 Flint sit-down strike and later the UAW's political action chief and civil rights ally.
Labor · 1900–1967R. J. Thomasthird president of the United Auto Workers (1939–1946)Chrysler worker who rose from Detroit's assembly lines to lead the UAW through World War II, between Homer Martin and Walter Reuther.The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own. Famous people's places among the sights ↗