Dean, Brenda (1943–)

views updated

Dean, Brenda (1943–)

British trade unionist and baroness. Name variations: Baroness Dean of Thornton-le-Fylde. Born April 29, 1943, in Salford, England.

The 1st woman to lead a major craft or industrial trade union, left high school at 16 and became a typist at a local printing firm; became administrative secretary for Manchester branch of Society of Graphic and Allied Trades (SOGAT, 1959) and then assistant branch secretary (1971), branch secretary (1976), general president (1983), and general secretary (1985–91), its highest post; was member of Institute of Advanced Motorists and helped train disabled to drive; came to national attention during the printer's dispute with Rupert Murdoch's News International; became deputy chair of Graphical Paper and Median Union (1991–92); was awarded a life peeraage and appointed to the House of Lords (1993), becoming a member of the House of Lords Appointments Commission; served as chair of Housing Corporation; appointed chair of Covent Garden Market Authority (2005).

More From encyclopedia.com