The Washington Post, December 4, 2008, Thursday

Copyright 2008 The Washington Post
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The Washington Post

December 4, 2008, Thursday

HEADLINE: Obituaries

BODY:

Paul J. Fasser Jr. Labor Arbitrator

Paul J. Fasser Jr., 82, a self-employed labor arbitrator who had been the Labor Department's federal manpower administrator in the early 1970s, died Nov. 22 at his home in Vienna. He had pancreatic cancer.

Since 1976, Mr. Fasser had worked as a labor arbitrator, and his clients included the U.S. Postal Service and other governmental agencies as well as private companies such as Weirton Steel. Most recently, he worked for the Montgom-ery County Fraternal Order of Police.

Mr. Fasser spent his early career with the United Steelworkers of America in Pittsburgh and rose to assistant director of the union's contract administration department.

He was appointed federal manpower administrator in 1970 and later was appointed assistant secretary of labor for labor-management relations, where he was the first administrator of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Better known by its acronym ERISA, the federal law covers retirement, health and other welfare benefit plans.

Paul James Fasser Jr. was born in Gary, Ind., and served in the Army in Europe during World War II. He was a 1951 graduate of Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He was one of the early graduates of the school, which opened in 1946.

His memberships included the Northern Virginia Training Center's human rights committee.
His honors included a presidential award in 1973 for service to the handicapped.

A son, Michael Fasser, died in 2005.

Survivors include his wife of 54 years, Mae Carino Fasser of Vienna; two children, Paula Fasser of Oakton and Thomas Fasser of Falls Church; and two granddaughters.


GRAPHIC: IMAGE; Jack Andrews was an intelligence analyst, then a rare stamp dealer.
IMAGE; Dorothy DiSario worked at CIA and her husband's medical practice.

LOAD-DATE: December 4, 2008