NEW CANAAN -- Hundreds of mourners gathered Wednesday at St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church to say goodbye to Connecticut labor leader Brian Petronella, who died suddenly at his Norwalk home days after winning a hotly contested organizing campaign at Foxwoods casino.

Petronella, president of the United Food & Commercial Workers Local 371, was 54 when he died at his home Friday. Six days before that, he had learned bartenders and servers at Foxwoods had voted to organize under Local 371. The casino is mounting a legal challenge to the vote.

A giant of a man at more than 6 feet tall, Petronella also was a giant in the labor movement, according to friends and family at the funeral.

In 1972, when he landed a job as a butcher at Grand Union Supermarket, he joined the Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workers, the forerunner of UFCW Local 371. In 1977, he was hired as a union organizer and worked for his father, the late Robert Petronella, who also served as president of Local 371 and international vice president of the UFCW, as well as general vice president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO. Brian Petronella held similar leadership roles in those organizations. He is survived by two daughters, his wife and his mother.

He was remembered as a family man in speeches by his brother, Ronald Petronella, and his daughter.

Several people wiped away tears when 18-year-old Lindsey Petronella ended her eulogy, saying, "I love you, Daddy, with all my heart."

She reflected on her father's sense of humor and his generosity, telling fellow mourners a story about a day when her father was one of the few willing to give money to a man begging at a highway exit ramp.

"Most kept their windows shut," recalling how her father rolled down his window to help a man who had fallen on hard times.

She also promised to do her father proud when she votes for the first time this November.

"I'll vote the same way he would -- Democrat across the board," she said, sparking laughter among friends and family.

Although the majority of those paying their respects were friends, family and union members, many politicians were present, including state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, State Comptroller Nancy Wyman, U.S. Reps. Jim Himes, D-Greenwich, and Chris Murphy, D-New Britain, Bridgeport Mayor Bill Finch, and former U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays.

Rev. William Scheyd, pastor of St. Aloysius, spoke of Petronella's charity in the community, which included baskets at Easter and Christmas, and donating and raising funds for many causes, such as the McGivney Center in Bridgeport.

There were plenty of people sitting in the pews with stories about Petronella helping them when they were down, including one man who said Petronella helped his wife get heart surgery.

But his significance as a labor leader was undeniable.

In his eulogy, his uncle Ronald Petronella, a former state Labor Department commissioner and business agent for Local 371, said the line of people at the wake the night before was evidence of his nephew's reach into working men and women's lives. He said the line was filled with "men with canes, women carrying babies . . . members, families, police officers, butchers, dairy clerks, firefighters."

"For Brian, it was all about family and work; family and the union," Ronald Petronella said. "We helped the working man and woman."

His uncle said they backed politicians who subscribed to that cause.

If ever a man was born to be a union leader, it was Petronella, according to family and friends.

"At 21 years old, this was kid who had 1,000 union meetings under his belt because his father held court at the kitchen table every night," his uncle said.

Tom Wilkinson, secretary-treasurer of Local 371 and a long-time friend, said virtually the same thing the night before in a telephone interview. Wilkinson joined Kevin Liberatore, Bobby Petronella, Brian Truini, Vincent Murolo and Peter Sena as pallbearers Wednesday.

Wilkinson said Petronella was at heart an organizer, which is what Petronella was when the two first started working together in 1977.

"We were brand new with this vision of how we were going to change the world," Wilkinson said. He said Petronella still had the fire and vision 30 years later and had never been happier than after the Foxwood's vote.

Wilkinson said it wasn't all victories, but Petronella always pushed the union to do more for working people, including helping eight non-union workers at Westport-based Velocity Express win a National Labor Relations Board dispute that mandated payment of back wages in excess of $100,000.

Petronella also was always willing to support his fellow union brothers and sisters, Wilkinson said.

When other unions have gone on strike, Local 371 members often are found walking the picket lines at those strikes in support. Petronella and Wilkinson walked the lines in the bitter cold with striking Sikorsky workers in 2006.

Ultimately, those gathered applauded when Petronella's uncle concluded his speech saying, "They say one man doesn't make a difference, well I say Brian made a difference."

Petronella was buried at St. John Cemetery in Norwalk.