DECEASED — Brian Thompson, whose devotion to improving the lives of IBEW members began as a Florida power plant apprentice and drove him to the helm of the union’s Fifth District, died Sept. 19 after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 68.
Thompson retired as the district’s international vice president in July 2024, winding up a 41-year career that included virtually every rung on the IBEW ladder.
His optimism, vision and work ethic inspired others at every stop, while his grace and kindness led to enduring friendships.
“Brian was a great IBEW leader,” International President Kenneth W. Cooper said. “But he was an even better man.”
Among his successes, Thompson was especially proud of chartering two new utility locals during his vice presidency — the IBEW’s first Puerto Rican union, San Juan Local 787, and Atlanta Local 1997.
“Don’t tell me the South can’t organize,” he said in his Electrical Worker retirement article, touting his district’s track record with new units, even when first campaigns failed. “The lesson is that we will never give up. By the second, third time, the workers … are realizing that they are the ones with the power.”
Thompson approached every challenge with boundless positivity, as his Fifth District successor described.
“He was always upbeat,” International Vice President Glenn Brannen said. “When he was the district’s political director, we were always winning, even when we were 20 points behind. Whether it was a first contract or an organizing campaign or politics, the way Brian saw it was: ‘It’s going great. We’re going to pull this off.’”
“You can take that all the way up to his cancer battle,” Brannen said. “His attitude was, ‘We’re going to beat this.’”
In December 2023, Thompson went to the hospital with abdominal pain he thought was appendicitis. It turned out to be cancer of the appendix, one of the rarest forms, affecting only one to two people per million per year in the United States.
Fighting the disease, which spread quickly, forced him to retire earlier than he’d hoped, said his wife, Rena Thompson.
“The treatments and appointments, it was a lot,” she said. “He wanted to put every single ounce of time and energy into the IBEW, and because of the cancer he couldn’t do that.”
Thompson grew up in southwest Florida, where an uncle was an IBEW telephone lineman. Wanting a job with benefits for his own young family, he joined Punta Gorda, Fla., Local 641 in 1984 and began working as an apprentice power plant mechanic and welder.
During his probationary six months, he already was advocating for fellow workers.
“I saw some things that weren’t consistent with the contract, and my dad and uncle had always told me as a young boy that you don’t have the right to complain unless you get involved,” he told The Electrical Worker.
“Brian’s only desire was how he could make somebody’s life better through the IBEW.”
– Theresa King, Tampa Local 915 recording secretary
He became a steward as soon as his probation was up and dove into Local 641 committees and activities. Within a year, he was invited to serve on the executive board and later rose to vice president, financial secretary and president.
Thompson was promoted to business manager in 1991, appointed first and elected twice. The position was then part time, and he carried on with his Florida Power & Light day job and ran the union at night.
His responsibilities multiplied in 1999 when he stepped in as business manager of System Council 4, which represents 11 FP&L locals. In 2005, he joined the international staff as a Fifth District representative, servicing locals and coordinating efforts in the South to elect pro-worker candidates and push for IBEW priorities at state legislatures.
He was named the district’s international vice president in 2019, again filling an unexpired term before being elected in 2022.
“I held every position in the IBEW except recording secretary, international president and international secretary-treasurer, and I got the shoulder tap for every job,” Thompson said in the 2024 article. “I am extremely proud of that. And I never lost an election.”
Friends say Thompson had a presence that drew people in, describing a tall, broad-shouldered, gregarious man with the voice of radio announcer and a dazzling smile.
“When he came into a room, he immediately made that room comfortable,” said Tampa Local 915 member Theresa King, president of the Florida Building Trades Council. “As anyone in the Fifth District would tell you, Brian’s only desire was how he could make somebody’s life better through the IBEW.”
She and her husband, Randall King, Local 915’s business manager and president of the Florida Electrical Workers Association, nominated Thompson to Florida’s AFL-CIO Labor Hall of Fame, an honor also known as the A. Philip Randolph Award. Chad Thompson accepted it on his father’s behalf at a ceremony in early September.
Calling Thompson a “visionary and humanitarian,” the Kings’ letter also praised him as a mentor, something Theresa King experienced as the first Fifth District representative on the International Women’s Committee.
“Brian had so much enthusiasm when we’d talk about what we wanted the Women’s Committee in the Fifth District to look like,” she said. “He was so enthusiastic about lifting up women and letting them know that he would support a sister for any role in the IBEW.”
Their conversations often took place in the evening and weren’t quick calls, King said. “Brian never had a 9-to-5 job. He always made himself available, not just to the leaders but to the rank and file.”
Rena Thompson said her husband embraced technology to be accessible and engaged at all times. “He was an audio-visual guy, everything self-taught. He loved computers, presentations, PowerPoints. He had a whole wrap-around screen system in his home office.”
He was constantly driven to do more, she said. “He was all about motivation, positive thinking, and there was always a next project, always more to accomplish. Nothing was ever status quo.”
But he also cherished time with family and the tranquility of his and Rena’s dream home on 3½ acres in Demerest, Ga., surrounded by woods and waterfalls. The couple moved there from Florida in 2020.
Rena Thompson recalled his smile watching deer forage in their backyard, the peace he enjoyed around their koi pond and the joys of his workshop. “He took a lot of pride in our house,” she said. “He loved to woodwork, to tinker and fix things. He had every tool.”
As conventional treatments failed, Thompson took part this spring in a clinical trial at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, hoping it would help others even if it couldn’t save him.
Texting him frequently while he was there, Theresa King said they had a code, “the porch,” signaling a day when the two couples could once again enjoy a laughter-filled visit on the Thompsons’ porch.
A devout Catholic, Thompson had faith that day would come. In a text King shared, he wrote: “I find as we go through these trials and tribulations that if we think about all the blessings we have and what the Lord provides for us it makes the journey just that much easier and really opens your eyes. … I find myself thanking him for all the blessings that he gives us every day, and there are many. By doing so, I find the blessings far outweigh the obstacles.”
After six weeks in Texas, he returned every two weeks for follow-up treatment until he grew too weak to make the trips, his wife said. In mid-September, the family celebrated an early Thanksgiving and Christmas. Thompson died a few days later.
“There’s an empty spot in the IBEW and in my heart,” Rena Thompson said through tears. “We’re reeling right now, but I know one day those empty spots will be filled with memories, and good ones.”
In addition to Rena and son Chad, Thompson is survived by daughter Dianna Winters, two grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He also had close relationships with his nieces, nephews and their children, and Rena’s three brothers. For anyone wishing to make a donation in Thompson’s memory, the family requests that gifts go to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
With sorrow, the entire IBEW family extends its sympathies to Brother Thompson’s loved ones, along with deep gratitude for all that he gave of himself in service to our union for more than 40 years.
