UFT Admin
- Former UFT secretary
Former UFT Secretary Tom Pappas, remembered as a “tough as nails” yet deeply kind educator and union leader whose career spanned decades, died on Feb. 13. He was 93.
Tom began his career as a substitute teacher in Manhattan’s Washington Heights and was appointed as a full-time teacher in 1959. He was active in the early days of the UFT, including during the union’s founding in 1960 and its historic first teachers strike later that year.
He went on to serve in a wide range of leadership roles, including chapter leader at JHS 115 in Manhattan and at John Adams HS in Queens. In 1968, he was appointed District 27 representative in Queens, a position he held until 1975, when he became Queens borough representative. Three years later, he was named assistant to the UFT president.
Tom was elected and served as UFT assistant secretary from 1991 to 1995 and as secretary from 1995 until his retirement in 2002. He served as director of UFT staff from 1986 through 2002. It also was in 2002 that Tom received the Charles Cogen Award, named for the first president of the UFT and the union’s highest honor.
After retiring, Tom continued his union work, leading the Retired Teachers Chapter from 2002 to 2009 and remaining active as a delegate through 2024. In 2010, he was recognized as a NYSUT Retiree Member of the Year. Over the years, he also served as a delegate to the UFT’s state and national affiliates and allied educator organizations.
“Tom Pappas was one of a kind,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew said. “He loved our union and gave his heart and soul to making the lives of our members infinitely better.”
In eulogizing Tom at a March RTC meeting, LeRoy Barr, the union’s recently retired secretary and director of staff, called him “a leader amongst leaders — someone who can take 100 opinions and walk out of the room with clarity, purpose and focus.”
He was “a steady hand,” a man whose “presence was calming in the middle of storms,” a “father figure,” a mentor and a friend, Barr said. “He was a good man.”
John Soldini, a retired district representative and former UFT vice president, said Tom was instrumental in strengthening the union over time.
Tom helped the UFT grow “not only in its initial years, but especially after his retirement, when he transformed the Retired Teachers Chapter into a powerful political force in New York,” Soldini said.
Soldini added that Tom avoided “long-winded” speeches, preferring to focus on problem-solving and moving discussions forward.
Anne Goldman, UFT vice president for non-DOE and private sector members, said Tom mentored her when she joined the union from the nursing field and helped set a tone of professionalism and accountability.
“If he said, ‘Jump,’ you’d say, ‘How high?’ and you’d be proud to do it because you felt you were doing something to make the union stronger,” she said.
Tom Murphy, a former UFT political and legislative director and Retired Teachers Chapter leader, said Tom balanced a gruff exterior with a warm personality. The two became close after Murphy joined the union’s leadership in 1990.
Murphy recalled giving Tom a framed image of the pyramid and “all-seeing eye” from a dollar bill.
“To me, it captured Tom’s talent of knowing what was going on everywhere in the union and keeping his finger on it,” he said.
AFT President Randi Weingarten described Tom on Instagram as a mentor and adviser “and the backbone of the UFT,” adding that he was “honest, direct and full of kindness and love and tough as nails.”
Retired teacher Josie Levine said she was initially “terrified” of Tom, but that quickly changed.
“He always did things with a certain humanity,” she said. “He had a way about himself that put you at your ease without you realizing it.”
Retiree Nina Tribble said Tom mentored her after she narrowly won a chapter leader election early in her career.
“This is why I give back,” she said. “This is why I’m there for the ones after me.”
“Everyone who had the privilege of knowing him respected him,” Mulgrew said. “Our union will continue to fight the good fight and to do him proud. He would expect no less.”
Tom is survived by his wife, Nora, four children, nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Rest in peace Mr Pappas. You will be greatly missed.
I have so many fond memories of Tom.He put me in to a PM Staff position in the early 1980’s One of first things he taught me was to speak to UFT members with respect. He hired me to speak to members who wrote to the President or called in to voice their opposition to UFT positions. He told me call those members to hear their views. He emphasized; SPEAK to them. Do not write a LETTER . Use your big incessant TOUNGE; not a PEN because you are not a SCRIBE. After recovering from surgery for a torn rotator cuff,he told me too bad you didn’t break your jaw ,They would have wired your mouth and jaw and shut. Perhaps then I would not have severe headaches he said to me. But he showed me his kindness when he put his arm around my shoulders and would walk me around the office when he sensed that I seemed troubled. That was Tom who I miss.
Mr. Pappas was one of my favorite teachers when I was a student in John Adam’s HS so long ago. I’m a retired teacher now. So sorry to hear of his passing.