Saul Alinsky

He married three times. His first wife, Helene Simon died while rescuing their daughter, who was drowning in Lake Michigan. He later married Jean Graham and then Irene McGinnis.

He adopted two children during his first marriage, Kathryn and David.

He died on June 12, 1972 at the age of 63, after he suffered from a heart attack in Carmel, California.

Born on January 30, 1909 in Chicago, Illinois, Saul David Alinsky was the only surviving son of the Russian Jewish immigrant couple, Benjamin Alinsky and Sarah Tannenbaum Alinsky.

He had such a strong and orthodox Jewish upbringing that he feared that his parents will compel him to become a rabbi. He later went on to major in archaeology from the University of Chicago.

After a two year stint at graduate school, he took up a job as a criminologist for the State of Illinois. He also worked part-time as an organiser for the Congress of Industrial Organizations.

Around 1939, he actively took part in general community organising activities, aiming to unite the poor in Chicago to voice out their rights collectively. By this time he put a pause to labour movement activities.

He devoted much of his time helping the slum communities across the nation for the next ten years of his life. He worked in communities in Kansas City, Detroit and California, to name a few.

Later in the 1930s, he worked with the industrial neighbourhood ‘Back of the Yards’ in Chicago. This led to the initiation of the ‘Industrial Areas Foundation’, dedicated to empower poor communities.

Around 1950, he devoted his time to improve the social and economic status of the African-American ghettos based in Chicago. His actions incited the hatred of Mayor Richard J. Daley.

On the request of the San Francisco Bay Area Presbyterian, he travelled to California, where he aimed to organise African-American ghettos in Oakland. However, upon hearing the news, the Oakland City Council banned his entry.

His book, ‘Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals’ is one of his seminal works that created a blue print for future community leaders and organisers. His principles have been widely applied by the government, over the last four decades.