01/16/2023
How many fundamentally serious people do you know? Not pessimistic, or unfunny, or joyless. Serious—engaged, committed, scrupulously upgrading their knowledge base. Serious—empathetic, and energetic enough to do something about it. Serious enough to take the trouble to fully use the range of language at one’s command because, otherwise, we’re just half-assing it. And yes, serious enough to encourage seriousness in our friends and acquaintances, even when it would be a hell of a lot easier just to let them off the hook and move on.
In my case, the answer to that opening question is, “not many.” Which makes it even more devastating when we lose one such person. The recent passing of David Van Os has tipped the balance in the wrong direction.
Apart from having battled for the members of Local 23 (MOSAS, of course, but also individuals outside the orchestral orbit), David had a subtle way of coaxing a high degree of personal responsibility and cooperative effort out of us all.
DVO felt things deeply. Life was not an abstract enterprise for him. Talented and brilliant as he was, he could easily have led a much more comfortable life. But for David the law was an instrument of practical idealism, not a cash cow. “Union-side labor law” is an endeavor not likely to solidify one’s credentials in the good old boys’ club. Yet, there was a palpable aura of deference, bordering on sheepishness, radiating from his counterparts across the table. Even the most bloodless of barracudas recognized the real deal, at least enough to park their hubris in the cloakroom.
I remember, in the aftermath of a charged caucus, fielding a call from Van Os during which he bared his soul about some intramural unpleasantries. As I’m prone to do during moments of acute discomfort, I served up a joke. At first, silence. Then, David taking my remark at face value and asking, as politely as possible, how I could say something so obtuse. Following the response that it was a joke, he paused (a very effective weapon in his arsenal, those pauses) and said, very deliberately, “Oh, okay. A joke. I see.” It was instantly clear that the last thing he needed was disarming inanity in the face of a genuine problem to be solved.
As his descent became more pronounced you could see, even in a Zoom session, the degree of importance David attached to The Struggle. He felt an urgency to be there in the cockpit, helping us all to glide gracefully toward a just and genuine resolution. Now, after his departure, one by one the various NLRB and court actions he undertook on our behalf (there are a slew of them) are resolving happily. It’s just a little more difficult to relish these victories in the wrenching absence of David Van Os.
Richard Oppenheim
