One of 1st Blacks to Lead a Teamster Local Dies
CHICAGO — Edward Eason, the first black in Chicago to head a Teamsters union local and one of the first to do so in the nation, has died from a heart attack he suffered Thursday night in his Southside home.
Funeral services were pending for Eason, 66, the president of Teamsters Local 726 since 1974.
The local, which Eason joined in 1948 as a city truck driver, represents municipal employees. Eason worked as a truck driver for the city in the Bureau of Equipment and later in the Streets and Sanitation department until 1972 when he became a business agent for Local 726.
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