David L. Bevard, a longtime Galesburg resident and former president of the Maytag union who became a prominent advocate for workers during the plant’s closure, has died at age 73.
Bevard, who lived in Bolingbrook in recent years but maintained strong ties to Galesburg, passed away on Christmas Day in Bolingbrook.
He was a central figure during the 2004 closure of the Maytag refrigerator plant, organizing community efforts to keep it open and testifying before Congress on the devastating impact of factory closures on American workers and communities. The Galesburg plant’s shutdown, moving production to Mexico, eliminated about 1,600 union jobs and symbolized broader manufacturing losses in the Midwest under trade agreements like NAFTA.
Obituary: David L. Bevard – September 7, 1952 ~ December 25, 2025
Bevard, often described as articulate and thoughtful, argued passionately for preserving high-quality American manufacturing jobs. After Maytag, he continued his labor work as a union organizer for the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers, focusing on charter schools, before retiring in 2019.
Born Sept. 7, 1952, in Weatherford, Texas, Bevard was raised in Galesburg and graduated from Galesburg High School in 1970. He attended Northern Illinois University, studying journalism, and worked at Maytag for 32 years.
A celebration of life visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, at Hinchliff-Pearson-West Funeral and Cremation Services of Galesburg. Cremation will be accorded following the visitation with burial later in Memorial Park Cemetery.
