Mike Friedman Presente!

Mike Friedman was my friend for 50 years. In the past week I’ve been in touch with a number of his family and friends, and have had time to reflect back on the many good times we enjoyed and the good trouble we made together.  

Mike died peacefully on August 30.  He had been hospitalized for over a month with complications from pneumonia.  His body was weakened by a couple years of cancer and chemo treatment.  

He is survived by his loving partner and wife of 35 years, Barbara Harvey, and by his step-son Dan Harvey, Dan’s wife Rebecca, and grandchildren Drew and Miles.  Our hearts go out to Barbara and their family.

Barbara was Mike’s life-partner and also his partner in working for justice.  They were both staunch supporters of TDU, active in Jewish Voice for Peace, and in the Detroit progressive community.

A life-long commitment to justice

Mike’s commitment to social justice was life-long.  He was born in Brooklyn, but at the age of 10 moved with his family to Columbus, where he said he was “rye bread in a white bread culture.” His parents were pro-civil rights, unlike most of his friends’ parents. 

Perhaps that’s why he got involved in the civil rights movement.  After graduating from Columbia University and getting a masters in England, Mike took a job at a historically black college in Knoxville. In 1968 he helped a number of students get to Memphis to join the work on the Poor People’s Campaign, which Dr. King launched before his assassination.  This action led to his teaching contract being cancelled.  

Mike decided it would be his mission to work for equality and social justice by joining in the struggles that affect the majority of people. In 1970 he moved to Cleveland and linked up with activists and socialists to work for what he referred to as “democratic control by the people.” 

He took a Teamster job and attended a founding conference of TURF – Teamsters United Rank and File – a short-lived group that preceded TDU.  In 1976, he was a founding member of Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU). 

Bill Denney, who was an important part of TDU’s tiny operation back then, shared a few memories of Mike’s role in the early days of TDU. 

“I recall him coming to the TDU office after he had finished a day at work. He was usually dressed the same way: flannel shirt, vest, dark blue work jeans, a heavy belt with a chain attached to an invisible wallet, and black boots.  Despite being tired, he always pulled himself out of his exhaustion to have the necessary energy to meet the moment in our meetings or to do whatever was necessary to put out an issue of TDU’s Convoy.

 “Another thing that I remember about Mike was his laugh and his smile. In any conversation you generally saw both. He loved discovering an irony when he was speaking, which was a laughing moment for both him and you. He had an internal engine that revved higher than most people I've ever known, but he had control over it.

“This was Mike. But there also was Michael.  Despite that internal engine and his intense knowledge and curiosity, he was always relatable. Honest to a fault, genuine, highly intelligent, modest, and compassionate. Michael was his deeper persona, the generator of all of these positive attributes.”

Mike made his mark with TDU and in Local 407, where, after working for various truck lines for a few years, he landed  a job driving for Airborne (now DHL). I was a fellow member of Local 407.  So were Sandy Pope and Sam Theodus, who won the presidency of the Local and ran against Jackie Presser in 1986 as part of our campaign to win the Right to Vote for IBT officers.  Sandy ran for IBT President in 2011. Mike was well-respected in Local 407; he narrowly lost when he ran for secretary treasurer. 

But it didn’t come easy. He was constantly red-baited by Jackie Presser’s followers and goon squad.  They didn’t defeat him -- because he was the kind of leader who pushed others forward, not a limelighter. And he was always looking for ways to build TDU. 

After 14 years driving a truck and building TDU, he started dating TDU attorney Barbara Harvey, and fell in love.  He left truck driving and moved to Detroit to share a life with Barbara.  

His Life with Barbara

He went back to school at Detroit’s Wayne State University and got a law degree. But the Teamster bureaucracy wasn’t done with Mike: being associated with TDU meant it would be nearly impossible for him to get work representing unions; a labor-law firm who hired him would face a boycott by major unions.  So he took a job at a big law firm, eventually becoming a partner in their benefit plans department, until he retired in 2013. 

He supported TDU and was a generous donor.  Alongside Barbara, he was active in community progressive politics and in Jewish Voice for Peace. 

When we founded the Social Justice and Solidarity Fund (SJSFund.org), Mike became one of our generous donors, helping to sustain a range of progressive workers’ movements. 

He also took up a new passion as a founder in 2007 of the Center for Community-Based Enterprise (C2BE), to build a more equitable local economy with worker-owned businesses.  He served on the board and as a business advisor, where he remained active until his passing.

I last saw Mike four months ago.  His energy was low due to disease and its treatment, but he was as sharp and interesting as always.  He was ready to hear the latest on TDU and to talk politics and the Detroit Tigers.  He was hopeful that he would have a few more years.

Many of us miss Mike.  There will be a memorial scheduled, where family and friends near and far can come to share our grief and our joy in being part of Mike’s life.

Ken Paff, September 7, 2025