Robert E. Anistead

Robert E. Anistead, long-time president of Washington 449S and an active volunteer for the International, died Aug. 12 in Washington, D.C., from complications from a stroke last spring. He was 63.

GCIU Pres. James J. Norton praised Anistead's contributions to his local and its membership. "He was always a calming influence in any kind of labor-management situation," Norton said. "The contracts he negotiated in his local made him one of the leaders in the specialty division."

Washington 285M Pres. Harold D. Delchamp, who served with Anistead on the GCIU's Board of Electors and on the Washington, D.C., Allied Printing Trades Council, called Anistead "a real gentleman. He was very honest, hard-working man who represented his members well."

A paperhandler by trade, Anistead joined the local while employed at Merkle Press in Glendale, Md. He was elected shop steward then vice president of the local.

In September 1968, Anistead was elected Local 449S president and served as president and business representative for the local until his retirement in December 1994.

A skilled negotiator, Anistead established contract benefits for his members that established the local's Medical Fund in 1969 and its Pension Fund in 1970.

The local noted that these funds established by Anistead "have grown financially to a point where they offer the members of the local health, life and retirement benefits that are comparable to some of the largest and best funds in the country."

Anistead served as a trustee of the Medical Fund, Pension Fund, and Training Fund. He also served as a local trustee on the Graphic Communications National Health and Welfare Fund, which was then the Pooling Fund.

Following the settlement of a class action discrimination suit filed against Washington-area companies by Local 449S and 42B, Anistead used the settlement to establish a special training program for his members. The program included mathematics and reading instruction, as well as basic computer skills to prepare members for the computer-based technology that had become prevalent in the printing industry.

After running for the GCIU General Board in 1987, Anistead was called upon to serve on the International union's Board of Electors following the death of the BOE's chairman and president of Pittsburgh 9N, Robert Slinsky. Approved by the General Board in October 1990, Anistead served on the Board of Electors until his retirement.

Anistead also represented his local as a delegate at International conventions.

Survivors include his wife Bertha, son Rodney, daughter Wanda Brown, and two granddaughters.

The family asks that expressions of sympathy be made in the form of contributions to either the American Diabetes Association or the American Cancer Society.