March 16, 2026 | News

March 16, 2026

 

Catherine Nolan, a Queens lawmaker who served in the State Assembly for almost four decades and was widely known as a fierce advocate for workers’ rights, passed away on March 11, one day before her 68th birthday.Cathy was only 26-years-old when she was elected to the Assembly in 1985 and became the first woman to chair the New York State Assembly Labor Committee. She consistently put the working people of New York first and foremost on her agenda. She championed the rights of New York State farm workers, who were excluded from workplace protections. Her efforts culminated in 2019 with the passage of the Farm Laborers Fair Labor Practices Act, which gave farm workers in New York the same rights afforded to workers in other sectors.Cathy’s commitment to labor issues was well established in the public eye, but her quieter devotion to the CUNY School of Labor and Urban studies cannot be overstated. She played a vital role in securing the earliest public investment that led to what eventually became SLU when, as chair of the Labor Committee, she approved the first-ever state allocation of $80,000 to support the labor studies program at Queens College. She was an advocate within the Assembly, helping her colleagues understand the importance of cultivating leaders for the labor movement, public service and civic life. She continued to defend and expand the funding for the program year after year. Thanks to her tireless work, that original modest investment has grown into more than $8 million in annual state support for SLU today.

“Cathy Nolan was a visionary in the truest sense. Our School exists in part because she believed in it before most people even knew it was possible,” said Dr. Gregory Mantsios, founding Dean of the CUNY SLU. “Her work as a lawmaker was guided by her principals and her belief that every working person deserves legal protections and opportunity to grow as a leader. As one of the School’s founding champions, she understood the importance of educating working people and labor leaders in a way that speaks directly to their diverse experience and aspirations. She saw how that can shape the foundation of a more just New York.”

Today, SLU serves thousands of students and union members. Graduates now hold leadership positions in government, unions, community organizations, and public institutions. It can all be traced back to one conversation. Shortly after her appointment as Labor Committee Chair, Arthur Cheliotes, then chair of the Labor Advisory Board for the program at Queens College, visited Nolan in her Albany office to congratulate her on her appointment as Labor Committee Chair. She asked a simple but consequential question “What can I do for labor the labor movement?” He suggested that she support the development of a labor education program at Queens College. She was on board immediately. The initial $80,000 allocation from the Assembly marked the beginning of a decades-long partnership between the New York State Legislature and labor education at CUNY.

“Her deep-seated dedication to the rights of workers was evident in the enduring commitment she made not only to ensuring that every worker was afforded legal protections, but to supporting the education of workers so they could become leaders in the labor movement and city life,” said Cheliotes. “And that’s exactly what CUNY SLU exists for. We could not have found a more perfect early champion of the School.”

Her legacy will live on in the careers and lives of thousands of SLU graduates.