Andrew “Sean” Noonan (October 2 1969 - April 7 2022) was a brilliant thinker, deeply humanistic, and honest to the core. He spent his last night with his closest friends, listening to Manu Chao, and died in the arms of his wife, Stephanie, and his best friend, Chris.

Sean’s qualities were forged through adversity. Sean grew up poor outside of West St. Louis, Missouri and needed to work from a young age to support his family. He was raised by his father, Joe Noonan, for whom Sean had tremendous admiration and love. Joe, disabled and irascible, had trouble holding down a job. Despite the difficulties this brought, Joe displayed a fearless tenacity in fighting for a dignified life for himself and his loved ones. This taught Sean a fierce independence and which side of any dispute he would be on (hint: the side of the working-class and the oppressed). It also taught him the importance of defending yourself and those that you love and to stand up for what is right. Beyond this, Joe showed Sean an unconditional love and strength of character. This was captured in Joe’s modest but reassuring sentiment during some very difficult moments, “come on Trooper, we can get through this.” More than that, Joe fostered Sean’s seemingly endless curiosity about the world and encouraged him to explore questions or interests and report back to Joe on what he had learned.

His love of knowledge and his pursuit of truth was extraordinary. He obtained a PhD in Sociology from Kansas State University. His yearning to know, his passion for command over subjects, and his unparalleled ability to recall anything he had read made him an outstanding sociology professor at Harper College and a formidable intellectual. He had an insatiable appetite for knowledge. When something interested him he’d read voraciously on the topic. This led him to become an armchair specialist in a number of subjects: political-economy and sociological theory, Napoleonic and Irish history, the French Revolution, the Civil War, and International Communist struggles, to name a few. These myriad interests led to many of his lifelong friendships.

Sean was the smartest man many of us knew. He was also the most principled. He stood for his beliefs, even when they were the most unpopular in the room. Some people may have resented him for his mind, his integrity, and his uncompromising moral compass, but everyone always respected him. He was a great political strategist and thinker and the advancement of the working-class was his lifelong passion. He was a union leader who secured good contracts for teachers. He joined Harper College in the fall of 2002 amidst the build up to a teachers strike. Sean immediately took a leading role organizing and promoting the successful strike. A few years later, he took on the battle of turning the Cook County College Teachers Union into a fighting social organizing union, founding Educators for a Democratic Union with his comrade in arms David Richmond. That was a goal that he took to his grave. He helped establish political organizations for the working-class and fought to build a labor party in Chicago. He worked in international solidarity movements supporting the Irish National struggle and liberation for Palestine. He was a fellow traveler in the socialist movement and authored academic papers and articles for union newsletters and popular media.

There was a warmth to Sean that would surprise many. It was a warmth that embraced beauty, friendship, and love. He loved ‘cussing and discussing’ with his closest comrades. He loved being on his bike riding through the North Woods of Minnesota and the streets of Chicago. Sean always had music playing in the background – dub reggae, root country, Irish rebel music, and instrumental hip hop. He was very sociable in his neighborhood, locally known as the ‘Mayor of North Branch’. He found relaxation in nature, watching European football, and practicing at the gun range. He cherished road trips and birdwatching with his beloved wife Stephanie.

Sean was diagnosed with cancer in March of 2020 and given less than a year to live. As with everything else in life, he battled cancer head on and exceeded everyone's expectations, living 13 months longer than the original prognosis. Despite tremendous pain and physical limitations, he found joy in doing what he loved, actively living until his final days.

Sean is survived by his corazón Stephanie, his brothers David, Chris, and Zach, his dear friends Hannah, Jess, Molly, and Ashley, and the thousands of students he taught and inspired.

We are memorializing him by planting trees in British Columbia and on the public lands of the U.S. National Forests. Sean loved the northern woods, maybe because he shared so many qualities with those trees. You can’t spend time amongst those trees without admiring their strength and fortitude. They are tall, noble, unyielding and have weathered many storms. They are beautiful and make the world a better place.

Rest in Power. Tiocfaidh ár lá.

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