Union rep’s character, bravery remembered
Bystander killed in Miramar Parkway shootout mourned
HOLLYWOOD — At the funeral of beloved union rep Rick Cutshaw, an innocent bystander killed in a police shootout in a Miramar intersection, the librarians and other Broward County workers he protected paid tribute to the man they called a defender of fairness, a believer in second chances and a source of hope.
“He was very important to me the last couple years. He was one of the most trusting and supportive people,” said Rita Lipof, a community library manager in Hallandale Beach who has been struggling with medical issues. “He really was a source of hope
for everyone he tried to help.”
Tears were pure and plentiful during Wednesday’s funeral for the 70-year-old field repre
sentative for GSAF/OPEIU Local 100. The union represents nearly 6,000 Floridians working at Broward County, Miami-Dade County, Jackson Hospital, Miami Beach, Naples and Port Saint Lucie.
From the outset, Cutshaw’s older brother, Tom, of Mount Dora, struck a deal with fellow mourners to sway the occasion toward a celebration of life despite the grim circumstances that cut short his little brother’s life as he sat in his 2009 Lincoln Mercury on Dec. 5.
He also thanked them for attending. “We’re just glad to be able to talk to you, to see you and meet you.”
Cutshaw’s union career began when he was a 21-year-old part-time grocery clerk. He caught the eye of the secretary treasurer of his local union, Dave Barry, who set about grooming Cutshaw to be a union steward.
“Rick was a great union rep,” said Barry, of Pembroke Pines “He cared so much about the members … and he did well in his negotiations. Everybody thought the world of Rick and management got along with him pretty well.”
Broward County’s transit director attested to that. “This one was pretty hard for me to take,” Corwin Gibbs said, his voice catching with emotion.
They argued as much as they traded miserable jokes, Gibbs said. And if a person is truly known by the company they keep, well “he kept very good company.”
“Nobody can say enough about Rick’s character,” Gibbs said.
One retired Broward County librarian said Cutshaw went out of his way to help her and 10 others on the verge of having their jobs cut back in 2009.
“I will never ever forget what this man did for us,” she said. “This man was a beautiful human being … I had to say this because he was there and stood with us.”
Another librarian in the audience applauded. “It’s true. I was there,” she whispered to a reporter seated next to her.
Cutshaw grew up in Ashland, Mass., east of Boston. He was a perpetual storyteller who laughed harder the more questionable his stories got. Known as Mr. Rick by his neighbors and Uncle Rick by his friend’s children, he was always decked in collared, button-down shirts. It is believed he didn’t own a single T-shirt.
Cutshaw enjoyed monthly movie nights drinking beers and rum and cokes with a friend’s son he considered and introduced as his own. And he apparently did not know how to drive a stick shift.
Cutshaw died en route to his home in Pembroke Pines from the job he loved in Miramar. He was caught in his car in a traffic-packed intersection when nearly 20 police officers exchanged gunfire with two robbers in a stolen UPS truck.
A UPS driver who had been taken hostage by the robbers was also shot and killed. Police have not disclosed whose bullets killed the men.
A lifetime friend gave the final salute amid gentle applause: “Not a sad word or a bad word about Rick, and there never will be.”
Cutshaw is survived by his 99-year-old mother, five siblings, several nieces, nephews and godchildren and scores of Florida union workers who admired and cherished him.