Progressive Activist And Attorney Ed Garvey Has Died

Ed Garvey, a progressive activist and nationally recognized labor lawyer from Wisconsin died Wednesday. Garvey was well known in political circles for representing workers and unsuccessful runs for governor and Congress.

Garvey was union lawyer who represented players for the National Football League in the early 1970s. He then served as a Wisconsin deputy attorney general. In 1986, he lost a high-profile race for U.S. Senate against GOP incumbent Sen. Robert Kasten, and again fell short of electoral victory in 1998 governor’s race against Gov. Tommy Thompson.

Barbara Lawton was Garvey’s running mate in the gubernatorial race and has fond memories of him.

“He was the most profoundly patriotic man, person, that I knew, in his irrepressible commitment to a strong democracy,” Lawton said.

Garvey also founded the annual Fighting Bob Fest, named after “Fighting Bob” LaFollette, a Wisconsin U.S. senator and governor who helped spearhead the “progressive” movement.

Scot Ross, executive director of the left-leaning One Wisconsin Now said the festival and Garvey have had a lasting influence on Wisconsin politics.

“Some people say that Fighting Bob Fest was a vehicle in which it helped bring people together for (U.S. Sen.) Bernie Sanders’ winning the Wisconsin primary. Because he … is a person who you always saw at Fighting Bob Fest.”

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, remembered Garvey as a “champion for the working class.”

Lawton said Garvey died due to complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 76.