and succeeded in imprisoning Quill and seven other leaders of the TWU and the Amalgamated Association, which joined in the stoppage, for contempt of court. The labor lawyer Theodore W. Kheel mediated the agreement that ended the strike. Quill did not waver, responding at a crowded press conference: "The judge can drop dead in his black robes!" The union successfully held out for a sizeable wage increase for the union. Other unions followed suit demanding similar raises. Quill died at age 60, three days after the union's victory celebration. He had an initial heart attack when he was sent to jail for contempt. He was interred at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York, after a funeral Mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral, his casket draped by the Irish tricolor. Speaking after his death, Martin Luther King eulogised Quill with the following: Family Quill fathered a son, John Daniel Quill (named after Quill's own father), with his first wife Maria Theresa (Molly) O'Neill, who died before him. His second wife, Shirley Quill, survived him. See also Communists in the U.S. Labor Movement (1919-1937) Communists in the U.S. Labor Movement (1937-1950) Michael J. Quill Bus Depot Union Organizer References Further reading Freeman, Joshua B., In Transit: The Transport Workers Union in New York City, 1933-1966, New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Quill, Shirley, Mike Quill, Himself : a Memoir, Greenwich, Connecticut: Devin-Adair, 1985 Whittemore, L.H., The Man Who Ran the Subways; The Story of Mike Quill, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968 External links An Irish unionist's appreciation of Quill 1905 births 1966 deaths American trade union leaders Activists from New York City Burials at Gate of Heaven Cemetery (Hawthorne, New York) Irish emigrants to the United States Irish socialists Irish republicans Irish Republican Army (1919–1922) members Irish Republican Army (1922–1969) members