Gerald Robert “”Jerry”” Menapace, who rose from a production worker at the hog slaughter at Goetz Packing in Baltimore, Md., to the second highest office of the United Food and Commerical Workers International Union, passed away at his home on Sunday, May 27, from a heart attack.
“”The UFCW family is deeply saddened by the passing of Jerry Menapace. He was a friend and leader whose commitment to working people improved the lives of tens of thousands of working families. He was an inspiration to all of us,”” said UFCW International President Joe Hansen.
Menapace’s father, uncles, and grandfathers were all active in the United Mine Workers of America. When he was 20, Menapace joined Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen Local 149 (Now UFCW Local 27). Within two years, he became a union activist first serving as a local union representative, and later rising to the presidency of his local union. In 1974, he was elected an International Vice President of the Meat Cutters.
After the 1979 merger with the Retail Clerks International Union that formed the UFCW, Menapace became a UFCW International Vice President. In 1982, he became special assistant to the International President. He was named director of the Retail Division in 1984, and elected International Secretary-Treasurer in 1986 and re-elected in 1988.
Menapace’s leadership reflected his lifelong commitment to workers. Throughout his career he was an active champion for civil rights and social justice, deeply committed to the struggle for racial equality in Baltimore and in the entire U.S. He was a lifelong member of the NAACP.
He never forgot his commitment to workers, reminding people often that, “”the union exists solely for the benefit of members. Officers come and go. People live and die. The union goes on forever.””
Menapace was a native of Atlas, Pa., and graduated from public schools in his hometown. He spent four years in the Navy, serving in Africa during the Korean War as a radio operator. He completed a two-year program in labor relations at Harvard University.
Menapace is survived by his wife, Jeanne Dawson and six sons—David Menapace of Waynesboro, Pa., Danny Menapace of Cumberland, Martin Menapace of Hapeville, Ga., Douglass Menapace of Phoenix, Md., Jeffrey Menapace of Hawthorne, N.J., and Steven Menapace of Bel Air; two daughters, Kathleen Menapace of Baltimore and Elizabeth Stewart of Huntington, W. Va.; a brother Robert Menapace of Northumberland, Pa.; a sister, Jacqueline Bolger of Roslyn, Pa., 17 grandchildren, and two great-granddaughters.