John Bligh
- Retired teacher and UFT high schools representative
Max Brimberg, a Brooklyn social studies teacher and the first UFT Brooklyn high schools representative, was known for his dedication to teaching, the union and social justice.
He died of natural causes on Dec. 19, 2022, at age 90.
Max taught at JHS 178 in Brooklyn for eight years and at Midwood HS for 25 years. At the beginning of his career, he was a member of the New York City Teachers Guild, a progressive labor union that merged with the UFT in 1960. He was elected guild chapter leader in 1958, his first year at JHS 178, which was one of the few schools to close during the first UFT strike in November 1960.
Max was active in the civil rights movement in the 1960s. He was part of a UFT delegation that presented several vans (purchased with contributions from UFT members) to Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma, Alabama.
In 1966, his first year at Midwood, Max was elected UFT chapter leader, a position he held for 20 years. Max also worked as a part-time UFT pension consultant and served for many years as a delegate to the NYSUT Representative Assembly and AFT conventions.
In 1985, he was elected as the first district representative for Brooklyn high schools, a position he held until his retirement in 1993.
Unionism ran in the family. His wife, Ruth, was the chapter leader for the UFT Guidance Counselor Chapter. She died in 2020.
John Soldini, who worked closely with Max and Ruth when he was the UFT vice president for academic high schools, recalled that both were dedicated union activists. They were full of ideas for improving the education for students and the wages and working conditions of union members, Soldini said, and they persisted in their efforts to make changes for the better.
“They made a great team and will be greatly missed,” said Charles Friedman, a friend and colleague who served as the UFT BASIS district representative for Brooklyn and Staten Island high schools.
Max is survived by a son, Peter Weinman, and was predeceased by a daughter, Susan Lander.
