Leon J. Davis

[2] In 1932 he founded Local 1199 of the Drug, Hospital, and Health Care Employees Union, which he ran for a half century.

Union members included: clerks, janitors, aides, orderlies, laundry workers, porters, dishwashers, elevator operators, and other employees in hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies.

[2] He loved art, music, and theater, read literature in three languages, gardened at his home in Flushing, Queens, New York.

[2] He died of heart failure on September 14, 1992, at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, New York.

[1] Two books about the union, Upheaval in the Quiet Zone and Not for Bread Alone examine the deep, almost patriarchal connection between Davis and Local 1199.