A salute to remember

Celebrating the legacy of Thomas Y. Hobart Jr.

April 9, 2005

Tom Hobart is applauded by RA delegates and fellow officers, from left, Dick Iannuzzi, Ivan Tiger, Maria Neira and Alan Lubin.

NYSUT's founding president was roasted, toasted and celebrated Friday with thunderous applause, tribute to his three decades of service to the union he built.

From Regent Arnold Gardner to longtime NYSUT officer Toni Cortese, Thomas Y. Hobart Jr. received accolades for his leadership in building what Cortese described as "this mighty union."

RA delegates rose to their feet cheering when NYSUT Secretary-Treasurer Ivan Tiger announced that, to honor Hobart's role as the union's builder, NYSUT's state-of-the-art headquarters and conference center in suburban Albany would be named the "Thomas Y. Hobart Jr. Office Building."

Noting that NYSUT and its members now own seven buildings throughout the state, Tiger said, "Tom's vision and vigilant oversight of our operations has been the foundation for the fiscal stability that has allowed these structures to be built."

Cortese spoke of the high standards Hobart set for fellow officers, urging them "to spend as much time as it takes" to meet members' needs.

She, like former Vice President Walter Dunn, compared him to an Energizer bunny with indefatigable energy, always willing to spend hours debating and defending his ideas. "He never stopped until he won," Cortese said.

Hobart built NYSUT into a democratic union "and he never was afraid to sit in front of a group of people and take questions."

Cortese segued into a roast, poking fun at Hobart's early fashion foibles, his unique driving habits and his tendency to give gifts where "it was the thought that counted."

In a well-received stunt, she presented him with a fully stocked styrofoam ice floe, crafted by her daughter Cristina, that would allow him to sail into retirement without further fanfare.

And, while Cortese's jests elicited gales of laughter from those who know Hobart well, she ended with a heartfelt and emotional tribute. Cortese said that when she asked Tom to be godfather to Cristina, she knew that "no matter what, he would watch over her."

She choked up as she introduced "my colleague, my friend, my president," Tom Hobart.

Gardner, who recalled Hobart's early days as a visionary unionist from Buffalo, praised him for his prescience in pressing for teaching to be regarded as a profession, and for his leadership on education reform.