Carrying on his father’s legacy, Fred Ross Jr. was one of the nation’s leading organizers who began his work at an early age in the lettuce fields of California alongside Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta who had been mentored by Fred Ross Sr.
His work went beyond labor organizing. In addition to a multitude of organizers who had an impact on electoral and other battles, he played a pivotal role in successful efforts to change U.S. policies backing oppressive governments in Central America, accelerating the naturalization of legal immigrants, and electing Nancy Pelosi to Congress for the first time.
He learned from UFW leaders like Chavez, Huerta and his father and applied those lessons in field campaigns of local volunteers. He put pressure on employers, state governments and Congress to advance a variety of causes — and, when necessary, to help elect candidates sympathetic to those causes.
“Our brother Ross was a mentor for many. He was also a friend and a union brother. Though he will be greatly missed, his spirit lives on through each and every one of us who knew him. As the songs say, Wherever there is a righteous fight, there will be Fred Ross. Wherever there is a picket line, there will be Fred Ross. Wherever there are working men and women organizing, there will be Fred Ross!”
-Bob Dean, IBEW 1245
“Congress and the Country owe a profound debt of thanks to Fred for always organizing and never agonizing – for his lifelong devotion to strengthening our labor movement and serving the nation he loved so deeply. Fueled by a deep-seated faith in the power of worker solidarity, he carried on the remarkable legacy of his father, the legendary Fred Ross, Sr., and helped forge America into a better, fairer place. Fred’s life was a testament to this basic truth: the spirit of change lives not in the hands of a powerful few but in union halls and at kitchen tables.”
- Speaker Nancy Pelosi
“Ross and his father are likely the greatest father-son organizing team in the nation’s history”
- Randy Shaw