The longtime leader of the National Right to Work Committee died at his home Sunday, just one week shy of his 94th birthday.

Reed E. Larson was a major figure in labor politics and conservative activism, having led a three-decade fight to prevent workers who don’t want to be union members from being forced into one. His efforts laid the groundwork for the recent surge in right-to-work laws, with Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and West Virginia adopting them in the last four years alone.