Gary Wise, longtime national organizing director for the International Union of Electrical Workers, now a CWA sector, died Oct. 25 at his home in Silver Spring, MD., following a 2-year battle with lung cancer.  He was 64. A Cincinnati native, Wise served as a forward radio operator with the Marines in Vietnam after graduating high school.  He returned to Cincinnati in 1971, after leaving the military, to work for Cincinnati Time Recorder (CTR).  Wise became active in IUE Local 765, which represented CTR employees, rising to be local president while earning a degree in labor studies at Northern Kentucky University in 1977. IUE District 7 hired Wise that year and he served as education director, among other posts. IUE’s then-Secretary-Treasurer Ed Fire recruited him in 1984 to be the union’s assistant organizing director.  Wise became national organizing director in 1996, serving until he retired in 2003.  Wise is survived by his wife of 37 years, Stephanie Strief Wise, and many nieces and nephews. 

Jesse M. Calhoon, the longest-serving president of the Marine Engineers’ Beneficial Association, died October 22 at the age of 90. Calhoon was MEBA’s top executive and chairman of the board of trustees for more than 20 years. He was the maritime labor union’s longest-serving president. “Jesse Calhoon was an exemplary individual, a great labor leader and a true visionary for the U.S. Merchant Marine when it needed it the most,” Mike Jewell, MEBA’s current president, said. “Jesse Calhoon is the standard by which all of us should measure our work on behalf of the union and our industry.” Click here for more on Calhoon's life and career.