In Memoriam: Howard Ocobock

June 18, 2009

Howard Ocobock, 1947 - 2009 (Photo credit: Tam Toucher)

Howard Ocobock, vice president of Washington Federation of State Employees (WFSE)/AFSCME Council 28, died June 6 in Longview, Wash., after a battle with cancer. He was 61.

Ocobock was a trade unionist who understood the value of political action. At AFSCME’s 2007 Leadership Conference, he vowed to get a special PEOPLE tattoo on his shoulder if his fellow AFSCME members increased their participation in AFSCME’s political, grassroots lobbying and fundraising arm, Public Employees Organized to Promote Legislative Equality (PEOPLE). They did – and he got the tattoo. See more in the March/April issue of AFSCME WORKS.

An equipment mechanic employed by the Washington State Department of Transportation in Yakima, Ocobock served as president and vice president of Local 1326 before he was elected in 2004 as Council 28’s vice president. Two years later, he was appointed to serve as a vice president of the Washington State Labor Council, a post he held until his death.

Greg Devereux, executive director of Council 28 and an AFSCME International vice president, gave a eulogy for Ocobock at funeral services on June 15. He observed:

“Seemingly without effort, Howard set the bar so high for what a vice president should be that his successors will have to work hard to attain that level. It was a simple formula: Put the members first in all things, help the president in every way possible, and don't think about yourself. A simple formula, a successful formula, but one not easy to replicate.”

Council 28 notes that Ocobock “battled his disease with dignity and grace while carrying out his duties as vice president. He visited just a little more than two weeks ago with Department of Corrections members who had just won a vote to keep their union and contract.”