Labor attorney Arthur Loevy spent decades advocating for clothing workers in factories in his role as an attorney and executive of a large, Chicago-based international trade union.
Around age 60, Loevy shifted gears, pursuing a second career as a civil rights lawyer, representing victims of wrongful convictions and police abuse.
“Arthur was a staunch advocate for labor. He came from a working-class family, and he always respected those who toil every day to make their living,” said Russell Ainsworth, a partner at Loevy’s civil rights law firm, Loevy & Loevy.
Loevy, 87, died of a sudden illness on April 11 at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said his son, Jon. He had been a Gold Coast resident and previously had lived in Northbrook.
Born in Chicago in 1939, Loevy grew up in the Budlong Woods area of the North Side Lincoln Square neighborhood. After graduating from Von Steuben High School in Chicago, Loevy earned a bachelor’s degree from Carleton College in 1960. He then picked up a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1963.
After law school, Loevy worked in labor law for the Cook County Police Association, which was formed in 1968 and sought to help police officers unionize in various suburbs, including in Skokie, Cicero and Waukegan. In 1970, he was arrested for breaking a glass door at Waukegan City Hall when he was refused admittance to a Waukegan City Council meeting. Police said he had been removed from admittance because all available seats were taken, prompting Loevy to rap on the building’s glass entrance door, which broke.
In 1967, the village of Maywood was one of the first police departments in Illinois to petition the federal labor board for unionization. A Maywood police officer, Solomon Smith, who went on to become the department’s first African American police chief, led officers in the unionization effort and worked closely with Loevy and the Cook County Police Association.
“He added up to everything that you would want in your attorney,” said Smith, who later hired Loevy as his personal attorney. “He was so knowledgeable on so many topics, so when you sat down to negotiate, he’d be ahead of the other side. No matter who we negotiated with, he always had control, and everybody recognized it in the room. He was the leading guy on both sides. There was something about him. He had a lot of charisma. And he was top-notch.”
In 1970, Loevy took a job with the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, where he served as executive vice president, secretary-treasurer. He shepherded the union through mergers with other unions, including the Textile Workers Union of America, the United Shoe Workers and the United Hatters, Cap and Millinery Workers. After the Amalgamated Clothing and Textile Workers Union merged with the International Ladies Garment Workers Union in 1995 to form the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, or UNITE, Loevy served as the combined entity’s secretary-treasurer. In that role, Loevy represented some 350,000 clothing and apparel workers at the time of the merger, including those who made clothes, hats, shoes, electrical products and copying machines.
“He really enjoyed representing garment workers,” Jon Loevy said. “It was deeply gratifying to help them achieve fair pay and avoid exploitation.”
Loevy negotiated a contract to represent workers in a factory owned by the Saperstein family, which also owned basketball’s Harlem Globetrotters. Loevy then represented the Globetrotters pro bono, in their first effort to unionize.
“He believed in unions and helping the working people achieve dignity and fair pay,” said Barbette Loevy, his wife of almost 60 years. “When he represented the team, they were not treated with respect. As an example, despite generating a lot of money for the owners, the players had to wash out their own uniforms at night. He was able to help them win a fair contract at the negotiating table.”
After leaving UNITE in 1998, Loevy joined the civil rights firm previously started by his son, Jon — and now known as Loevy & Loevy — which has represented many plaintiffs in reversed-conviction cases. In April, a Tribune editorial said that Loevy & Loevy “has made something of a cottage industry out of suing the city of Chicago over alleged police misconduct.”
In a departure from his past life as a lawyer and advocate for a labor union, Loevy spent more than 25 years at Loevy & Loevy representing victims of wrongful convictions and victims of police abuse and also mentored younger attorneys.
For instance, Loevy represented two people arrested in 2005 and subjected to strip searches at the Cook County Jail, contending that the strip-search procedures violated their constitutional rights. He also represented a man who, while being arrested by a Streamwood police officer, was beaten. The charges against the man were eventually dropped, and the officer was indicted on felony charges of aggravated battery and official misconduct. The officer was found guilty of using excessive force and sentenced to probation.
Loevy worked from a conference room at the law firm.
“He offered me, and everyone here, encouragement (and) good cheer,” said Locke Bowman, a partner at Loevy & Loevy. “Arthur knew what was right, in the broadest sense of social justice. He cared about prisoners — he was very invested in our prisoner rights practice — and he cared about the narrower sense of how to advance the legal work ethically and responsibly.”
Ainsworth said Loevy’s mentorship included understanding that “‘shoulding’ someone was never appreciated.”
“He made sure to phrase his advice accordingly,” Ainsworth said. “He’d say, ‘This is what I might do,’ or ‘You might consider,’ but never ‘You should …”, despite the fact that he had 40 years more experience than I did.”
Loevy never retired. In fact, he worked the day before he died, his son said.
Outside of work, Loevy enjoyed reading and he greatly enjoyed history, his son said.
In addition to his wife and his son, Loevy is survived by two daughters, Debra Loevy and Karen Horowitz; and seven grandchildren.
Services were held.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
