Kevin Michael Fitzpatrick

It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announced the passing of our great friend, Kevin Michael Fitzpatrick, on June 4th, 2007.  Brilliant, bold, uncompromising, tireless, irreverent, loving, lively, loyal, kind, a truest working class intellectual was our beloved comrade Kevin.  A veteran of over 30 years in the taxi industry, Kevin served as an Organizing Committee Member of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance since 1998.  Kevin fought without fears or concessions for the right to work with dignity in the industry he called a mobile sweatshop.

In every corner of our office, in city public hearing rooms, in the walkways of garages and along the gates of airport taxi lots, we see Kevin.  We hear his hearty, warm, kind, kind laughter.  We remember his unrelenting quest for the next conversationalist, the next street corner prophet to talk shop and politics, politics and shop.

In every campaign, Kevin Michael Fitzpatrick was a critical player—he strategized until 4 in the morning and came back by 8 to start off mailings, outreach drives, phone calls, and newsletters.  If we needed to understand the history of anything, really ... politics, military, language, literature, capital, labor, the movements of peoples ... we turned to no where other than Kevin.   Our friend saw the bigness of the world and nourished it in the palm of his hands.  He nourished facts, figures, and moments in history across time and borders as if they were dear friends.  Kevin's genius held an indescribable beauty and awe.

Kevin Fitzpatrick was, above all, a devoted organizer.  If a member was injured on the job, assaulted, harassed, wrongly suspended, or unjustly fired by a taxi boss, Kevin was ready, front and center, to defend the people he loved above all -- taxi brothers and sisters.  

Kevin’s lasting legacy will be his contributions to the formation of the International Taxi Workers Alliance.  Body tiring from a long battle with cancer, he persevered with insight, patience, humor and vision.  During the ITWA’s historic founding conference in March 2007, our friend Kevin was the Brooklyn sunshine in a New York spring.  Voice booming, body leaned back, eyes twinkling with knowledge, boldness, sarcasm, and that laughter of a thousand victories won, debates conquered, hope fulfilled.  Kevin was in Kevin form.  His final days were lived as he had lived all of his life.  Illness, fatigue, and chemotherapy never swayed his sharp focus or relentless resolve.  May you be, beloved Kevin, where the poet meets the scientist to talk revolution.

Read Kevin's essay: Leasing