DECEASED — Lawrence “Pat” Curley, whose calm but tenacious manner led to organizing and bargaining victories throughout a career that took him to the top of the Sixth District, died May 12. He was 83.
A native of Indianapolis, Curley was appointed international vice president of the Midwestern district in February 2001 and elected that September at the IBEW convention.
His path to union leadership began in 1967 as a technician at a Sperry UNIVAC plant in Minneapolis, where he’d been stationed as a U.S. Army cryptographer in the early 1960s.
Curley was part of an IBEW workforce that produced early computers so large that a person could walk inside them. But soon, he felt the tug of his union, St. Paul, Minn., Local 2047. Representing some 5,000 workers in the area’s nascent high-tech industry, the local urgently needed more staff and strong leadership.
Curley answered the call. Hired as an assistant business manager in 1968, he was elected to lead the local in 1970.
“Pat was very much a fighter for the people,” said David Ruhmkorff, who retired as Sixth District international vice president in 2022 and worked with and for Curley for decades. “He didn’t take the union job to get off the line. He truly believed in the labor movement and people having a voice in the workplace.”
Son John Curley, a journeyman wireman in Indianapolis Local 481, said his father instilled those values in his children and taught them labor history.
“Dad was passionate any time he talked about the union,” he said. “He explained everything to us — the 40-hour workweek, child labor laws. He was proud that he was part of this movement.”
Known for his steady hand, Curley managed and grew his bustling Twin Cities local for seven years, leaving in 1977 to join the IBEW staff as an international representative. In his retirement article in The Electrical Worker, he said he was especially proud of organizing a Comcast unit in Chicago and a large call center in Westfield, Ind.
“Pat was very much a fighter for the people. He truly believed in the labor movement.”
– Retired Sixth District IVP Dave Ruhmkorff
He also chalked up contract and arbitration wins, handling each assignment with trademark precision, Ruhmkorff said.
“He was a logical thinker, very even-keeled,” he said. “He had good vision for assessing what direction to take, and he didn’t rush things. He’d say: ‘Don’t worry, we’ll get there. We don’t have to go in guns a-blazing.’”
Even so, there were moments when Curley would let loose with the perfect zinger. “Like me, he was an Irishman,” Ruhmkorff said. “When he needed to, he could pull out the blarney.”
While Curley’s travels as a servicing representative kept him on the road most weeks, John Curley said “he was a wonderful father” who enjoyed quality time with him, his two brothers and their mother on the weekends.
Work, though, naturally spilled over, and the family’s landline kept ringing. “We’d hear Dad on the phone all the time on Saturdays and Sundays,” his son said. “He was always willing to take the call when someone needed him.”
John Curley also observed his father’s preparation. “Going into a an arbitration, he essentially had to be a lawyer, and he was always ready,” he said.
The same was true when Curley stepped into his role as Sixth District international vice president.
“We went right to work,” he said in his retirement article. He cited, for instance, launching new residential wireman programs in construction locals that didn’t have them, progress that increased the IBEW’s market share.
Curley retired in 2005, going on to enjoy 20 years of fishing trips and family time — joys, his son said, that he combined every summer with lakefront reunions lasting a week or more.
But the IBEW always remained close to his heart.
“You could still hear the fire in his voice when he talked about his work,” John Curley said. “He was a union man through and through. And all these years, he felt a duty to keep paying his IBEW dues. In fact, he’s paid up through the end of 2025.”
Curley lost his beloved wife, Sharon, two years ago. The couple met across the counter at a Minneapolis drug store and were married for 60 years.
In addition to John, Curley is survived by sons Michael and Robert, three grandchildren, one great-grandchild, a brother, and five sisters.
On behalf of officers, staff and members, the IBEW sends its heartfelt condolences to Brother Curley’s family and friends, with deep gratitude for his years of loyal service.
