Tom Mooney, President of Ohio Teachers’ Union, Dies

To those who knew him, Tom Mooney, the president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers, represented the future of teacher unionism: a progressive leader who cared as deeply about the schools his teachers worked for as he did his constituents.

Mr. Mooney, who was considered by many to be a front-runner for one of the top spots in the American Federation of Teachers, died of a heart attack Dec. 3. He was 52.

Also an AFT vice president and a former president of the union’s Cincinnati local, he carried a deep conviction that unions need to be part of school reform to be effective, colleagues say. At the same time, he strongly opposed charter schools and vouchers, which, he believed, would suck money...