Obit: Cesnik, James Michael (1936? - 2009)

Surnames: Cesnik, Havlik, Nelson, McGuiganb, Mejac

----Source: Washington Post (Washington, D.C.) Friday, March 6, 2009

Cesnik, James Michael (1936? - 27 Feb. 2009)

James M. Cesnik Labor Union Representative

James M. Cesnik, 73, a union representative from 1965 to 1993 with the Newspaper Guild, which represents journalists and other media employees, died Feb. 27 at his home in Winchester of congestive heart failure.

Mr. Cesnik represented the Guild on newspaper antitrust issues, labor law changes and the employment of women and minorities.

He was the editor of the union's publication, the Guild Reporter, from 1973 until his retirement in 1993.

Early in his career, he worked as a reporter, copy editor and layout editor for the old Minneapolis Star, an evening newspaper, and the old Minneapolis Tribune, a morning newspaper.

James Michael Cesnik, a native of Marshfield, Wis., graduated with a bachelor's degree in English from St. John's University in Collegeville, Minn., in 1958. He served as president of what is now the Minnesota Newspaper Guild from 1963 to 1964 before moving to the Washington region to work for the union.

He was president of the AFL-CIO's International Labor Communications Association from 1980 to 1981 and was the association's secretary-treasurer from 1984 to 1987.

His marriage to Elizabeth Havlik ended in divorce.

Survivors include his wife of 19 years, Barbara Nelson Cesnik of Winchester; three children from his first marriage, Margaret McGuigan of Keedysville, Md., Sarah C. Mejac of Chevy Chase and Michael I. Cesnik of Winchester; three brothers; and nine grandchildren.

*** Transcriber’s Note: He was born and spent his first years in Willard Wisconsin. His grandfather was Ignac Cesnik, the land agent who sold property to the immigrant Slovenians who wanted to farm.