(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – Jan Borman is being remembered for blazing a trail that led to her becoming the first Woman to head Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1122 - and for both her tenacity and dedication to her Membership, who she fought so hard for.

Personally, I last saw Jan on Labor Day, after the Buffalo AFL-CIO Labor Council’s annual parade, which ended in Cazenovia Park in South Buffalo for a post-parade picnic.

We talked for about 20 minutes and pledged to meet for coffee before the holidays, which came so fast and are now gone.

But on January 21st, it was posted on the CWA Western New York Retirees’ Chapter’s Facebook Page that Jan had been hospitalized. 

Then, a little more than 24 hours later, a second post came.

She’d passed from pancreatic cancer.

“One tough broad,” is how one Labor Leader put it to WNYLaborToday.com, offered with the highest of respect, when asked what first comes to mind when you mention her name.

I remember Jan Borman, who made more than a favorable impression in the Western New York Labor Community even though she was a one-term Union President, as more than a standout Unionist who continued to involve herself in her Union even after retiring. 

To me she was a dear friend - one who had the tenacity of a bulldog, especially when she went after a local Ponzi-Schemer who collectively took hundreds of thousands of retirement dollars from several area Union Members, including myself.

Three CWA Labor Leaders: Former 1122 President John Mudie (Pictured Above With Jan, On The Right); Current Local President, Tom Antonio (Pictured Above With Jan, On The Left); and CWA District 1 Area Director Deb Hayes, all fondly recalled Borman, 78, when they spoke with WNYLaborToday.com:

Mudie: “I ‘can’t imagine what she went through’ (becoming Local 1122’s first Woman President).  She took over in 2003 and ‘worked hard to get our Members back who were laid off’ from Verizon.  She was a ‘strong ‘Woman, ‘a very tough broad.’  She ‘could be gruff,’ but she ‘handled’ those Verizon Managers - ‘calmly.’  And Jan ‘was always there to help.’  ‘Anytime a Member needed help, it was Jan to the rescue.’  ‘Everything she taught me - I learned how to make a deal.’  I was a ‘pissant’ and she ‘took me to so many high-level meetings that I’d never been to.’  ‘I didn’t know how to relate, but I learned fast.’”

Antonio: “This is a ‘shock to all of us.’  When she worked for the telephone company, it was a ‘not a Woman’s place, but she loved our Local.’  Her ‘words of support.’  She ‘was always there, even after (her term was over) to let me know what a good job we were doing for our Members.’  She was also President of our Retirees’ Chapter.  It was Jan ‘who helped get the word out’ to our Retirees.  I ‘truly admired her - being a Woman’s in a Man’s world.’  ‘She helped get the jobs back of more than (100) of our Members who were at Verizon (who had been laid off), including me.’  I had (27) years in it.  She ‘did her job and she was a tough broad - ‘and I say that as an extreme compliment.’  ‘She was part of our CWA Fraternity.’  ‘She was always very helpful and very encouraging.’  ‘She never hesitated on anything.’  She used to come up to me and say: ‘How’s my President?’  But she was ‘my’ President.  ‘And she never forgot a name or a birthday.’  She’d always text me, asking how I and my wife and kids ‘were doing.’  ‘You could see how deeply rooted she was and how she genuinely cared about our Membership and their families.’  ‘It was impressive.’”

Hayes (Pictured In Earlier Days, On The Right, With Jan - In The Middle): “She was a ‘trailblazer and I knew her story.’  She ‘was intelligent and hard-working and a committed Woman in the Labor Movement.’  ‘And there weren’t a lot of Women doing that kind of work in her times.’  ‘She looked at her female peers who were learning the ropes and she never said no to me.’  ‘She wasn’t afraid to roll up her sleeves and do the hard work.’  ‘I am forever indebted to a lot of people and Jan is definitely one of them.’  After she retired, she was ‘very valuable’ to her Local ‘because she was involved and stayed to help CWA.’  She was ‘tough as nails, but she had a softer side.’  I saw that in the way she treated my children when they were young and with me on a picket line.  ‘She was nothing but kind to them.’  ‘It’s good to remind everyone in the Western New York Labor Movement of her experiences, what she lived and worked through.’”

WNYLaborToday.com also spoke with two former Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation (WNYALF) Presidents - Dan Boody and Richard Lipsitz, who also knew Jan:

Boody: “What I recall was that she was ‘very Pro-Labor, not only with the CWA, but supportive to all of the area’s Unions.’  She was a ‘very nice person who always had a smile on her face.’  And she was ‘always active and was at every meeting.’  She was involved over the years in helping make so many things happen, including the Buffalo Labor Day Parade.  ‘No matter what Labor was involved in, Jan was there.’”

Lipsitz: “She was a ‘stalwart Leader’ of our Labor Movement ‘and an honest Labor Leader who worked very hard for her Membership.’  She was a ‘very honest and blunt person, which - by the way, is not a terrible thing.’”

It’s important to note Jan’s name was “bandied about” at one time for the Presidency of the WNYALF - that’s how highly she was thought of across the Western New York Labor Movement.

My personal connection with Jan goes back decades.

Of course I knew her from her days at the CWA - and after, as she worked inside the Erie County Clerk’s Office (Under both Democrat and Republican rule) for a number of years, helping especially Union Members get copies of the documents they needed.

I’ll never forget her giggly laugh when something funny was said and her seriousness when she asked how you were doing and what you were up - and what was going on across the Western New York Labor Movement through WNYLaborToday.com’s daily reporting.

However, I will never forget what a bulldog she became and the dedication to helping put in jail a man named Guy Gane, whose local financial firm was found guilty in 2011 of operating a $6 million Ponzi scheme and bilking 90 individuals - one that stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from the retirement funds of several Union Members, including Jan and myself.

She jumped forward to participate in an interview with The Buffalo News I’d arranged after I found out Gane was back in his office, running his business after the Feds had raided it.

Jan and I stood in the lobby of the Federal Courthouse when Gane was arrested and walked into the building by officers, as well as in the Courtroom the day he was sentenced as he asked the Judge for the opportunity to “address my victims.”

Jan, who personally lost $100,000, told WBFO Radio in Buffalo that she felt vindicated: "Three years and four months ago I was put into a financial prison and now, Guy Gane should go and be in a physical prison where he has to pay because we are not going to see restitution."

Jan kept tabs on Gane’s incarceration, as well as two others who were charged, and corresponded with Federal Officials to make sure she not only knew if they were being transferred to another prison or when they were to be released. 

And she got right into the middle of it all to make sure any monies recovered would be returned to all those who had been robbed of their retirement funds by Gane and his cronies.

But that’s who Jan Borman was.

She fought doggedly for her CWA Members and she stood up for herself and many others who had been wronged in that Ponzi scheme.

As Mudie, Antonio, Hayes, Boody and Lipsitz so eloquently put it: Anytime someone needed help, Jan Borman was there.  It was Jan to the rescue.  And, she wasn’t afraid to roll up her sleeves and do the hard work.

I know, in my heart, that Jan is rolling up her sleeves, doing the hard work up in heaven now.

And I can’t stop thinking that they couldn’t have asked for anyone better to do that.

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Jan’s Family will receive friends at the C. Mertz and Son Funeral Home, located at 911 Englewood Avenue in Tonawanda, on Friday (January 31st) from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.  All are invited to attend a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Amelia Church (Located at 2999 Eggert Road in Tonawanda) on Saturday (February 1st) at 9:30 a.m. To Access Jan’s Obituary, Go To: Janis Borman Obituary - Buffalo, NY | C. Mertz and Son Funeral Home, Inc.

Photos Courtesy Of CWA Local 1122.