×

Community activist loses battle with cancer

WARREN — Longtime union activist, concerned community resident and a mother who turned her personal tragedy into a positive died Wednesday after a three-year battle with metastatic breast cancer.

Even in death, Cindy Michael, of Warren, is giving hope to others by her decision to have her remains turned over for scientific study in an effort to help others.

“She was a giving person,” said Ken MacPherson, Michael’s husband. “She was a person who would fight fiercely during union negotiations, but when those discussions were complete, would invite you to lunch and talk about friends and family.”

Michael always fought for workers and for people doing what was right.

“When Walmart was building a new store with non-union employees, Cindy wrote to the company’s president, telling him what she thought about the use of non-union contractors,” MacPherson said.

An annual bookbag giveaway and family fun day in Girard has been a way for the couple to deal with the 2005 fire deaths of two grandchildren, Mason Cross, 5, and Christian Pizzulo, 1. It was determined that the childrens’ mother, Lena Cross, 22, was stabbled to death prior to the fire.

It is a crime that has never been solved.

“I don’t believe she would have ever forgiven the person because the pain was so hard, but the annual bookbag giveway gave us a way to have some positivity from it,” MacPherson said. “It went a long way toward healing. It not only helped her, but also helped others.”

MacPherson said his wife has known a lot of hardships in her life, including the death of a son because of a drug overdose, a domestic violence incident with her first real boyfriend and her grandchildrens’ deaths.

“These things helped to shape the person she became,” MacPherson said. “She learned the ability to fight, to overcome and to get the job done. She had an insatiable drive. She was very detail oriented and believed in always doing the right thing. These characteristics made her a good union rep.”

Warren Councilwoman Helen Rucker, D-at Large, described Michael helping her through her own cancer treatment.

“When it was determined she had cancer, I had it,” Rucker said. “We talked about it. She was always so open about her cancer and what she was going through on Facebook. She did so in such uplifting ways. She would pull you through your misery.”

Rucker described Michael as a person who always did her homework when it came to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union interviewing candidates seeking their support for elections.

“The questions were not going to be soft,” Rucker said. “She worked for the benefit of union members.”

Rucker said Michael was a strong labor leader.

Eddie Colbert, D-at Large, said Michael was a person who got things done.

“She was supportive of those things that were good and positive,” he said. “She would not allow what was happening to her stop her from getting things done.”

She had a very strong voice in the labor movement, not only in this area, but across the state and the country, Colbert said.

Michael was recognized for her activism during the 2017 A. Philip Randolph Institute during its annual dinner. She was given its Community Service Award for her work with the Lena Mason Christian Memorial Fund and bookbag giveaway.

The bookbag giveaway began one year after the childrens’ deaths, and Michael organized a spaghetti dinner each February to raise money for it.

She also was a Tribune Chronicle Community Star in 2008.

rsmith@tribtoday.com

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
     

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.85/week.

Subscribe Today