CLEVELAND, August 21 — Former BLE International President Robert E. Delaney died of congestive heart failure yesterday. He was 84 years old and had endured a long battle with Parkinson’s disease.
Delaney was elected to the Brotherhood’s highest office at the BLE’s Fourth Quinquennial Convention in August of 1986. He retired in September of 1987, announcing that his goals had been accomplished and that the Brotherhood’s course was steady.
Prior to that, he served four terms as an International Vice-President, representing the BLE before the National Railroad Adjustment Board, a grievance arbitration panel, in Chicago.
“Brother Delaney was truly a man of integrity and a man of honor,” BLE International President Don Hahs said. “On behalf of the 59,000 men and women of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, I extend deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Bob Delaney.”
Delaney began his rail career as a brakeman on the Chicago & North Western in 1940, earning promotion to locomotive engineer in 1945. A year later, he joined BLE Division 404 in Chicago.
After serving one term as a local chairman, Delaney was elected chairman of the BLE General Committee of Adjustment on the Chicago & North Western in 1959. He served in that position until he was elected vice-president at the 1966 international convention.
He was a member of the former Railway Labor Executive’s Association (RLEA), which was comprised of officers of 18 rail unions. He served on the RLEA Executive Committee; Committee on Railroad Retirement; Committee on National Transportation Policy, Mergers, Consolidations and Passenger Service; and the Board of Directors of the Labor Cooperative Educational and Publishing Society.
He was born on February 17, 1919, in Janesville, Wisc., and is survived by a son, Robert Jr., and two daughters, Katherine and Ellen. His wife of 41 years, the former Virginia Doyle, passed away in 1981.
A wake will be held on August 22 from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Cumberland Funeral Chapel, 8300 Lawrence Ave., Norridge, Ill., 60706, (773) 625-4474. The funeral will begin with prayers at the Cumberland Funeral Chapel at 8 a.m. on Saturday, August 24, followed by a mass at St. Vincent Ferrer in River Forest, Ill., at 9 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be sent to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation, Inc. (2050 Pfingsten Road, Suite 127, Glenview, Ill., 60025).