John Fox came to Seattle in 1931 from San Francisco to organize officers and unlicensed personnel into the Inlandboatmen's Union of the Pacific and into the Masters, Mates and Pilots. He was simultaneously an officer of two unions, serving as secretary and business manager of Local 6 of the Masters, Mates and Pilots, which represented licensed officers, and from 1931 to 1941 as secretary of the Inlandboatmen's Union, which represented unlicensed personnel, and as president from 1940 until his retirement in 1965. Fox served on the Board of Regents at the University of Washington in 1947. He was a commissioner of the King County Housing Authority, 1949; War Labor Board, National Railroad Adjustment Board, 1948-1950; and he served on a number of civic committees. In 1958, he was nominated to attend the Maritime Session of the International Labor Conference in Geneva, Switzerland. He died 1978.
From the guide to the John M. Fox papers, 1938-1958, (University of Washington Libraries Special Collections)
