United Auto Workers Secretary-Treasurer Ray Majerus Dies

MILWAUKEE (AP) _ United Auto Workers Secretary-Treasurer Raymond E. Majerus, whose union career spanned 35 years, died today at the age of 63.

Majerus died of heart failure at St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee, the UAW said.

Majerus, a native of Campbellsport, was elected to the post with the international UAW in 1980 after serving from 1972 as director of the union's Region 10, headquartered in Milwaukee and including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Montana and North and South Dakota.

He ran for president of the UAW in 1982 but lost to Owen Bieber.

''Mr. Majerus was a working man and a trade-union man through and through,'' Bieber said. ''He was a great friend of working men and women everywhere - a true fighter for justice - and he brought tremendous energy and insight to every task he undertook for the union. His death is a great loss to the UAW and to the workers he served so ably for so many years.''

Majerus first became active in union activities after he started work at the Kohler Co. in Kohler. He led a wildcat strike there in 1952 and was instrumental in getting the independent Kohler Workers Union to affiliate with the UAW. He led UAW Local 833 at Kohler during a 6 1/2 -year strike against the plumbing ware manufacturer that started in 1954.

He served as a UAW international representative, a member of then-UAW President Walter Reuther's staff and coordinator of the UAW's political action arm before being elected Region 10 director.

Majerus is survived by his wife, Alyce; three children, Rick, Jodi and Tracy and two grandchildren. Rick Majerus is Ball State University basketball coach and was formerly head coach at Marquette University.

Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.

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