NEW YORK — SAG-AFTRA today dedicated its signature conference room in its New York office to the late New York Local President and national Vice President Mike Hodge.
In the ceremony overlooking Lincoln Center, SAG-AFTRA EVP and New York Local President Rebecca Damon welcomed Hodge’s family and colleagues alongside former Screen Actors Guild President Richard Masur; Screen Actors Guild New York Branch President Sam Freed; National Vice President, NY Liz Zazzi; NY Local Vice President Jim Kerr; Honors and Tributes Committee Vice-Chair, NY Kevin Scullin; New York Local Executive Director Jeffrey Bennett; Senior Advisor John McGuire; and a host of National and Local Board members.
About her mentor and friend, Damon said, “Mike Hodge was a SAG-AFTRA founder whose legacy lives on in the many leaders and volunteers who carry on the torch of union activism in his footsteps. Mike always stood up for what he believed in and encouraged a generation of performers to do the same.”
The newly named Mike Hodge Executive Conference Room honors the memory of a figure who was instrumental in the merger of Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists to form SAG-AFTRA, a feat decades in the making. Hodge served as New York Local President since 2009, became co-president upon merger in 2012, and was re-elected as the first SAG-AFTRA New York Local President in 2013, serving until his death on Sept. 9, 2017.
“Mike Hodge was more than a union leader,” said SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris. “He was a champion, a fighter for the defenseless, and a voice of reason. He represented the best of SAG-AFTRA.”
National Executive Director David White echoed Carteris’ sentiments. “Mike was such a dedicated, caring leader who used his considerable gifts and steadfast demeanor to connect with members on a personal level. His ability to help people with disparate opinions find common ground was instrumental to his effectiveness and long tenure in elected leadership. Every day we miss his resounding baritone voice, tremendous smile and generous spirit.”
To download high-resolution photos from the dedication, click here.
From left, N.Y. Local Vice President Jim Kerr; SAG-AFTRA EVP and New York Local President Rebecca Damon; Marisa Redanty, secretary to the interim commissioner, New York City Mayor’s Office of Media & Entertainment; New York Local Executive Director Jeffrey Bennett; and Tchiyuka Cornelius, New York City commissioner’s representative, Office of the Commissioner. (Photo credit: SAG-AFTRA)
From left, SAG-AFTRA member and Mike Hodge cousin Tia Dionne Hodge; Honors and Tributes Committee Vice Chair, N.Y. Kevin Scullin; former Screen Actors Guild President Richard Masur; N.Y. Local Vice President Jim Kerr; New York Local Executive Director Jeffrey Bennett; SAG-AFTRA EVP and New York Local President Rebecca Damon; Screen Actors Guild New York Branch President Sam Freed; and Senior Advisor John McGuire stand before the newly dedicated Mike Hodge Executive Conference Room. (Photo credit: SAG-AFTRA)
SAG-AFTRA EVP and New York Local President Rebecca Damon cuts the ribbon before a congregation of National and Local Board members and friends, family and colleagues of the late New York Local President and national Vice President Mike Hodge. (Photo credit: SAG-AFTRA)
About SAG-AFTRA
SAG-AFTRA represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, broadcast journalists, dancers, DJs, news writers, news editors, program hosts, puppeteers, recording artists, singers, stunt performers, voiceover artists and other entertainment and media professionals. SAG-AFTRA members are the faces and voices that entertain and inform America and the world. A proud affiliate of the AFL-CIO, SAG-AFTRA has national offices in Los Angeles and New York and local offices nationwide representing members working together to secure the strongest protections for entertainment and media artists into the 21st century and beyond. Visit SAG-AFTRA online at SAGAFTRA.org.