I. Michael Heyman

I. Michael Heyman
Name	I. Michael Heyman
Birth date	1931-12-24
Birth place	New York City, New York, United States
Death date	2011-10-30
Death place	San Francisco, California, United States
Occupation	Lawyer, academic administrator, public official
Office	United States Secretary of Labor
Term start	1979
Term end	1981
President	Jimmy Carter
Alma mater	Brooklyn College, Harvard Law School

I. Michael Heyman was an American lawyer, academic administrator, and public official who served as United States Secretary of Labor and later as president of the MacArthur Foundation and chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco. He held leadership roles at major institutions including Oak Ridge National Laboratory, RAND Corporation, Harvard Law School, and the U.S. Department of Labor, and he contributed to debates on labor law, public policy, and philanthropy.

Early life and education

Heyman was born in New York City and raised in a family connected to the legal and civic life of Brooklyn, New York. He attended Brooklyn College before earning a law degree from Harvard Law School, where he studied alongside contemporaries who went on to careers at institutions such as Yale Law School, Columbia Law School, Stanford Law School, University of Chicago Law School, and New York University School of Law. During his formative years he was influenced by figures at Columbia University, Princeton University, and Cornell University who shaped mid-20th century legal education.

Legal and academic career

Heyman clerked and practiced in settings linked to prominent legal institutions including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, and trial and appellate courts in New York (state). He joined the faculty at Harvard Law School and later was connected with scholarly centers such as the Brookings Institution, Hoover Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and the American Enterprise Institute. He served in leadership at national laboratories and research organizations including Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory, and the RAND Corporation, collaborating with researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, California Institute of Technology, and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His academic appointments intersected with clinical programs at University of California, Berkeley, University of Pennsylvania, and University of Michigan law schools.

Tenure as Secretary of Labor

As Secretary of Labor under President Jimmy Carter, Heyman succeeded Ray Marshall and worked with cabinet colleagues such as Cyrus Vance, Warren Christopher, Hazel R. O'Leary, and Edwin Meese across policy domains involving agencies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Employment and Training Administration, and the National Labor Relations Board. He engaged with labor leaders from AFL–CIO, United Auto Workers, Teamsters, United Steelworkers, Service Employees International Union, and officials from state governments including representatives from California, New York (state), and Texas. During his tenure he confronted issues tied to legislation such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, interactions with courts including the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and international labor questions involving the International Labour Organization and trade partners like Canada, Mexico, and Japan.

Presidency of the MacArthur Foundation

After government service, Heyman became president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, overseeing grantmaking portfolios that intersected with organizations such as The Nature Conservancy, Human Rights Watch, American Civil Liberties Union, Urban Institute, and The Brookings Institution. He managed philanthropic strategies linked to programs in urban affairs in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco and supported research at institutions including Princeton University, Harvard University, Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and University of Chicago. Under his leadership the foundation funded work in areas connected to policy debates before bodies like the United Nations and initiatives involving nonprofit partners such as United Way and Teach For America.

Contributions to legal scholarship and public policy

Heyman published and spoke on subjects spanning labor law, administrative law, and public policy, engaging with scholarship from authors at Harvard Law Review, Yale Law Journal, Stanford Law Review, Columbia Law Review, and University of Pennsylvania Law Review. He collaborated with academics and policymakers connected to think tanks like the Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, American Bar Association, National Academy of Sciences, and the Council on Foreign Relations. His work addressed institutional governance at universities and research laboratories, interlocutors from Association of American Universities, American Association of Universities, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the Department of Energy. Heyman testified before congressional committees including the United States Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources and the United States House Committee on Education and Labor and engaged in public discourse alongside figures from The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, and Financial Times.

Personal life and honors

Heyman was associated with civic and cultural institutions such as Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Council on Foreign Relations. He received recognitions from universities including Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, University of California, and organizations such as the American Bar Association and National Academy of Public Administration. Heyman lived in San Francisco later in life and died in 2011, leaving legacies reflected in programs at the MacArthur Foundation, academic centers at University of California, San Francisco, and archival collections held by libraries including the Bancroft Library and the Harvard Law School Library.

Category:1931 births Category:2011 deaths Category:United States Secretaries of Labor Category:MacArthur Fellows Program administrators