Albert Bilik

BILIK, AL (age 93) – Passed away peacefully on May 28, 2016 in Washington, D.C. after a full, long and love-filled life. Al was born on September 27, 1922 in Brooklyn, N.Y. to immigrants Jacob and Lena Bilik, worked in the family drug store in Coney Island, and graduated from James Madison High School.

Al enlisted in the Navy at the age of 19 and served as a medical corpsman on the USS Hyde in the Pacific theatre of World War II, earning the Bronze Star. Al earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Brooklyn College, where he met his first wife, Dorothy Seidman, who predeceased him. He later received a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Columbia University. He began a long and distinguished career in the American labor movement in the 1950s as an organizer for the United Auto Workers in Connecticut and Kentucky. Settling in Cincinnati, Al raised his first family, served as Council Director for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and later as President of the AFL-CIO Labor Council, ran for city council with Dr. Albert Sabin as honorary campaign chairman, and tirelessly built bridges between the labor, anti-poverty and civil rights movements, including leading a contingent of activists to join Rev. Martin Luther King’s march on Selma. In the early 1970s, Al moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as Director of Organizing for AFSCME and oversaw a period of significant nationwide membership growth for the union. He returned to New York City in the early 1980s, where he served as Victor Gotbaum's deputy at AFSCME’s District Council 37, and met and was married to Mary Jane Wilson.

Al and Mary Jane moved to Washington, D.C. in 1985, where they put down roots and raised their two sons. Al continued working to strengthen the labor movement, serving as President of the AFL-CIO’s Public Employee Department and later as consultant for AFSCME District Council 20. He retired in 2011 at age 89, when kidney disease began to slow him down, but Al remained a force to be reckoned with, always ready to express an opinion or engage on the issues of the day, and never leaving any doubt of his unconditional love for his wife, children and grandchildren. Al’s seemingly limitless energy for living life to the fullest, and his advocacy of basic human rights on the job and elsewhere, are an inspiration to all who have known and loved him.

He is survived by his loving wife Mary Jane Wilson-Bilik of Washington, D.C.; daughter Lisa Bilik Forberg of Nashville, TN; sons James D. Bilik of Albany, NY, Michael Bilik of Brooklyn, and Benjamin Bilik of Washington, D.C.; grandchildren Daniel Forberg, Julia Forberg, Lena Gillern Bilik, and Henry Bilik; son-in-law Richard Forberg, daughter-in-law Mary Bilik, in-laws Pat and Bill Carr, and their daughters Jennifer and Madeleine.

Visitation hours are Thursday, June 2nd and Friday, June 3rd, from 5 – 9 p.m. at Joseph Gawler & Sons Funeral Home in Washington.

Donations should be sent to Bread for the City and Martha's Table in lieu of flowers.