Downs, Tom, 1916-

Lawyer, of Lansing, Mich.

From the description of Papers, 1976-1979. (Wayne State University). WorldCat record id: 28413995

Legal advisor to the Michigan A.F.L.-C.I.O. and the Democratic State Central Committee; vice chairman of the Michigan Constitutional Convention, 1961-1962; and member of the Michigan Employment Security Commission, 1949-1965.

From the description of Tom Downs papers, 1947-1965 and 1995. (University of Michigan). WorldCat record id: 34422897

Tom Downs was born July 11, 1916 in Spokane, Washington. He earned both his undergraduate and law degrees at the University of Michigan. During the 1937 Flint sit down strike against General Motors he worked with Victor Reuther and the UAW strikers. He would eventually serve as counsel for the Michigan State AFL-CIO, working with its president, Gus Scholle.

Tom Downs served as a Commissioner of the Michigan Employment Security Commission (MESC) during the G. Mennen Williams era, transforming an agency representing employers' interests to one representing employees' interests. He was one of three vice presidents of the 1961-1962 Michigan Constitutional Convention. Although the Democrats did not have a majority of the delegates, they greatly affected the ultimate 1963 Constitution. In 1982, he was a part of a successful bi-partisan effort to prevent Michigan from adopting the death penalty. He served on the Grand Valley College Board of Control, the American Lung Association of Michigan, the National Council of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, the Michigan Law Revision Commission, the Michigan Political History Society, the Michigan Council for the Arts, and as an adjunct professor at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School. He died in 2007.

From the guide to the Tom Downs papers, 1947-2007, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)