William D. Ryan

William D. Ryan (1861 – November 17, 1949) was an American labor unionist.

Born in Illinois, Ryan moved with his family to Braidwood, Illinois in 1865. He became a breaker boy at a colliery, and joined the Knights of Labor, and then the United Mine Workers of America. In 1897, he was elected as secretary-treasurer of his local, and became a full-time organizer for the union. In 1908, he was elected as secretary-treasurer of the international union, but he left the union movement in 1909. He then worked as an arbitrator for the Southwestern Interstate Coal Operators' Association, as a safety commissioner for the United States Bureau of Mines, and briefly ran a family coal and grain company.{{cite book |title=The Samuel Gompers Papers |date=1986 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=9780252033896}}

Ryan retired in 1935, and died in Kansas City, Missouri in 1949.{{cite news |title=William D. Ryan, Sr. |work=New York Times |date=November 18, 1949}}

References

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{{succession box|title=American Federation of Labor delegate to the Trades Union Congress|years=1904|with=Dennis Driscoll|before=Max S. Hayes|before2=Martin Lawlor|after=John A. Moffit|after2=James Wood}}

{{succession box|title=Secretary-Treasurer of the United Mine Workers of America|years=1908–1909|before=William Bauchop Wilson|after=Edwin Perry}}

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Category:1861 births

Category:1949 deaths

Category:American trade unionists

Category:Trade unionists from Illinois

Category:United Mine Workers of America people