Veteran CWA Staffer Jim Harper Passes Away

Ernest L. (Jim) Harper, who retired as an administrative assistant to the vice president of CWA District 3 in 1986, died of a massive heart attack in his sleep at the family home in Fort Pierce, Fla., on June 1. He was 70 years old.

Harper first went to work for Ohio Bell in Cuyahoga Falls in February 1948, as a PBX installer-repair technician. A longtime president of CWA Local 4302 in Akron, Ohio, he was appointed a CWA Representative assigned to Des Moines, Iowa, on July 25, 1966. He transferred from Des Moines to CWA's District 4 Cleveland office in 1967 and was named the union's Ohio director on Feb. 1, 1975.

In October 1978, Harper moved to CWA's District 3 Atlanta, Ga., office and a year later became the union's Northern Florida director. In 1980 he was promoted to the position of administrative assistant to the vice president.

Always active in Democratic party politics, Harper was assigned to the Labor Committee for McGovern-Shriver during the 1972 presidential campaign.

Survivors include his wife, Margo, and five daughters, Nancy Porter of Centerburg, Ohio; Nancy Jane Rader of Westernville, Ohio; Terri Parker of Margate, Fla.; Karen Willoh of Columbus, Ohio, and Michele Jett of Richmond, Va.