MAX ROFFMAN / 1910-2003
Union leader
championed seniors, too
Hawaii labor leader and senior citizens advocate Max Roffman died Oct. 3 in Seattle. He was 93.
"He was completely honest and made a tremendous contribution to the labor movement, bringing its voice on a weekly basis over public television's 'Rice and Roses' program," said social activist Ah Quon McElrath.
In 1953, Roffman came to Hawaii at the request of UPW leader Henry Epstein, who was "having difficulty in attracting blue-collar workers into the UPW of Hawaii," said Ed Beechert, a historian who taught labor history and education at the University of Hawaii.
Roffman arrived to an anti-labor atmosphere in Hawaii, with plantations convinced they could get rid of unions, Beechert said.
"Max walked into this and was very successful in persuading the blue-collar workers to join the union at a time when the state was anti-labor," Beechert said.
"Hawaii didn't have collective bargaining for public workers, so it was a tough time for people organizing government workers," McElrath noted.
Roffman first began organizing refuse collectors.
"They were a pretty tough bunch of mostly Hawaiian guys," said close friend and retired UPW and ILWU attorney Jim King. "And they liked him.
"He was never one of those guys who would jump up and yell and shout at the podium," King said. "He was always cool and collected. He impressed a lot of people, and they respected him."
Beechert said: "He had great courage and had a way of persuading people -- very gentle, but very firm."
Roffman worked as Oahu division director until 1968, then served as education director, all along serving as UPW's chief lobbyist.
He retired from the union in 1974 and went to work for the Center for Labor Education and Research at the University of Hawaii.
He also produced the "Rice and Roses" labor program on public television from 1975 to 1981.
Then in 1981, he went to lobby for the Kokua Council for Senior Citizens, an advocacy group for seniors, persuading the Legislature to pass a renter's tax credit and to double the tax exemption for homeowners age 65 and older, Beechert said.
The American Civil Liberties Union awarded him the Allan F. Saunders Civil Liberties Award in 1984.
Roffman moved to Seattle that year where he continued his work for senior citizens.
Beechert described Roffman, a self-educated man, as an intellectual who enjoyed writing mysteries and plays.Born on April 11, 1910, in Brooklyn, N.Y., Roffman went to work right after high school. His first job as organizer was in 1935, when he started organizing social security workers in Baltimore.
Roffman is survived by wife Marian, son Daniel, daughters Norma Cucci and Laurie Roffman, and a granddaughter.
Private services will be held in Seattle.
