LONDONDERRY, U.K.–While his passing has gone largely unnoticed in the United States, a legendary figure in credit unions whose work also earned him a Nobel Prize but who considered his founding of a CU to be his greatest achievement, has died.
John Hume, who early in his life helped to start credit unions when he found banks would not make loans, and later became president of the Irish League of Credit Unions, died at age 83.
In 2012, Hume shared his story at a World Council of Credit Unions’ conference in Killarney, Ireland, telling the audience of growing up in a poor family of seven children with an unemployed father at a time when unemployment was approximately 30%. He initially trained for the priesthood, but won a scholarship to attend college and related how as a young man he had attended a credit union conference in Dallas in 1967, where he learned just how important CUs were in the U.S. Hume also met then Sen. Edward Kennedy in the U.S.
Good Friday Accords
Following his work in credit unions Hume eventually became a community activist and a politician representing the Catholic community in Northern Ireland, and he is credited with convincing the Provisional IRA to declare a cease-fire in its conflict with the British in 1994 and with being the key architect of the Good Friday peace agreement. In 1998, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway for his work in preaching nonviolence.
In his remarks to the WOCCU meeting, Hume said, “Humanity transcends nationality, race and religion. First, you are human.” He added no one choose to be born in a certain place, with a particular religion, nor a race.
He praised credit unions for allowing anyone to join, and called on CUs to work with other organizations to help communities.
“Lay the foundations for a new world,” he urged credit union attendees.
Hume won WOCCU’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award, in 2006.
CU ‘His Greatest Achievement’
“Despite being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the Gandhi Peace Prize and Martin Luther King Award, John has always considered his role in helping establish the Derry Credit Union in 1960 as his greatest achievement,” wrote Michael McGowan, a former Labour MEP for Leeds and coordinator of the Olof Palme Peace Lectures, in the Yorkshire Post.
Hume, said McGowan, always understood the power of credit.
In this clip, Hume talks about credit unions.