Death of Feldman, AFT’s Former President, Mourned

Union leader recalled as influential advocate for children living in poverty.

Labor leaders, government officials, and educators last week mourned the death of Sandra Feldman, who headed the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union until cancer forced her into retirement in 2004. She died Sept. 18 at the age of 65.

The former president of the American Federation of Teachers led the 1.3 million-member union for seven years, as it played an influential role in shaping the federal No Child Left Behind Act and grew by thousands of teachers, teachers’ aides, and health-care and government workers. She succeeded the legendary Albert F. Shanker, whom she had also followed as the president of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, which is the nation’s largest local teachers’ union.

Ms. Feldman was the president of the city union for 11 years before she was elected to lead the national union in May 1997—the first woman to hold the AFT’s top post since 1930. She took over as dissatisfaction with urban schools was intensifying, and she was a staunch champion of educational equality for the poor and minority children who are heavily...