John McCormack

A former Mayor of Ashington Town Council, John was elected national president of UCU in 2012 and was due to serve his term next year (2014/15). John was active in the trade union movement all his working life.  He was the branch chair at Northumberland College for many years where he led many successful campaigns against compulsory redundancies and for improvements to lecturers' terms and conditions. 

John was Chair of UCU's Northern Region Committee for many years and a member of the union's National Executive Committee. In addition to his UCU activities, he also served on several regional and national bodies, including the Executive Committee of the Northern Region TUC. 

UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'John was a wonderful, principled man. He was always courteous, even when he disagreed with you. John embodied everything that is so good and important about education. He was steeped in the trade union movement and made friends wherever he went. His death is a huge loss to UCU and to anybody fortunate enough to have met or worked with him.'