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May 2003 IBEW Journal

Deceased

Verel R. Johnson

The IBEW regrets to report the March 11, 2003, death of retired International Representative Verel R. Johnson, 90, who began his IBEW career in 1946. He retired in 1973.

Brother Johnson was named an International Representative assigned to the Ninth District in November 1951, after he served four years as business manager/ financial secretary of then-IBEW Local 447, El Centro, California. He became business manager just one year after initiation into Local 447, whose jurisdiction moved to Local 569 in San Diego.

As a local business manager, Brother Johnson served area trade unionists as president of the AFL-CIO central body and as secretary of the El Centro Building & Construction Trades from 1948 to 1951.

His three sonsGordon, Kenneth and Berlare also IBEW members. The IBEW extends sympathy to them and to others among Brother Johnsons family and friends.

Deceased

George W. Magdich

The IBEW is saddened to report the death of retired Fifth District International Representative George W. Magdich. Brother Magdich died February 17, 2003, two days after his 82nd birthday.

Brother Magdich joined IBEW broadcasting Local 1193, Atlanta, Georgia, in 1954 and served that local as business manager for 15 years before being named an International Representative. He retired in 1985 after 16 years of service to Fifth District members in radio, television and cable.

He resided in Snellville, Georgia, spoke Hungarian and was proud of his heritage as a first generation American whose mother and father came through Ellis Island and have their names inscribed there. His wife Frances, who died in 1988, had Polish parents with a similar background.

A native of Ohio, Brother Magdich was trained in radio electronics and as a pilot and served in the European theatre late in World War II (1944-46). That training stayed with him for life as he remained a licensed private pilot and a ham radio operator. One of his children is a graduate of the Air Force Academy.