SACKMAN, Samuel H. Former District Director, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Samuel H. Sackman, a prominent labor activist, former federal mediator and champion of cooperative labor-management relations, has died. He was 84.
Sackman, who spent more than fifty years in the field of labor-management relations, died after a long illness at his home in Chino, his family said. Born on July 10, 1923 in Brooklyn, New York, Sackman was a superb baseball player who carried his love of the game throughout his life. He was offered a contract to play center field for the New York Giants in 1942. The Second World War, however, interrupted his plans. He joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 and spent the next four years in the Army. After his military service, Sackman attended the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, where he co-founded the Watermargin cooperative, the country's first interracial, inter-religious fraternity. After graduating from Cornell, he joined the Easton, Pennsylvania, District of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union. During his ten years with the union, he rose from organizer to business agent, and finally to Assistant Business Manager of the Easton District. After leaving the ILGWU, Sackman joined the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, where he spent 27 years. He began his FMCS career in Eastern Pennsylvania, serving as the Regional Director, before moving to Southern California where he served as the District Director of District 3 (Los Angeles) of the Western Region and as Special Projects Coordinator. After retiring from the FMCS, he founded Sam Sackman Associates and spent the rest of his professional life teaching and advocating for cooperative labor-management relations. In 1992 he coordinated a national conference on "Visions for the Future of Collective Bargaining" and in 1994 a national conference on the "Survival in the New Global Economy: What Relationships Will Work For Labor and Management?" He also presented his "Unions-Contractors-Cooperation: Working Together to Help Our Industry Grow" program to some 45,000 apprentices and journeymen in the Southern California construction industry. He is survived by his wife, Kathy Sackman, his brother Jerry Sackman of Oakland, California, four children - Ken Sackman of Los Angeles, Murray Sackman of Boston, Barbara Bartholomew of Ithaca, New York and Gerry Sackman of Los Angeles - and twelve grandchildren. Services will be held on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 11:00 a.m. at the Rose Hills Cemetery, 3888 South Workman Mill Road in Whittier. A reception will follow immediately after the service. In lieu of flowers, the Sackmans request that you take your family to a ball game or make a donation to your favorite charity.