NEWARK, N.J. -- Richard F. Cunningham Jr., a dynamic New Jersey labor leader who helped found an organization for low-wage, immigrant workers and started a punk rock record label, died Friday. He was 32.

He died from complications related to colon cancer, which was diagnosed in 2005. His death was confirmed by the Crabiel Home for Funerals in Milltown.

Cunningham graduated with a labor studies degree from Rutgers University in 1999 and help found New Labor in 2000. The group's organizational model garnered national attention by unionizing mostly young, low-wage immigrant workers while offering them community services such as English-as-a-second-language classes and computer training.

Cunningham founded the punk rock label Happy Days Records in 2005 while still in college, naming the company after the popular 1970's sitcom whose lead character shared his name.