The death in February at the age of 81 of long-time Canadian union leader Bob White has elicited a series of fawning retrospectives and eulogies from a veritable Who’s Who of the political, media and trade union establishments. White came to prominence as the architect of the 1984-85, nationally-based split in the United Auto Workers, which resulted in the creation of the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW)—the precursor to today’s Unifor union.