John O’Connor, Environmental Activist, Dead At 46, Don Hazen, AlterNet
Longtime progressive activist John O’Connor passed away on November 30 after suffering a heart attack while playing basketball. He was 46 years old. O’Connor is probably best known as the leader of the National Toxics Campaign, an effort he founded in 1983 which focused on the deadly impact of abuses of unregulated chemical companies, writes Don Hazen, the executive editor of AlterNet. Fellow activist and friend Harriet Barlow calls O’Connor a hero. He always followed through and was committed, she says. “He wasn’t trapped by a single issue. He embraced a politics which was as big as his own heart, which was Irish after all.” Read the rest of Hazen’s obituary to understand this complex and passionate activist.
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