Longtime union official for Port Authority workers
As the longtime financial secretary/treasurer of the union that represents Port Authority of Allegheny County workers, John A. Remark Sr. took the well being and concerns of his colleagues to heart.
“He was a legend,” said Jeffrey S. Di Perna, who now holds the same position at the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 85. “John was just a phenomenal person. The guy was just a stand-up guy. He was a good, good person.”
Mr. Remark, initially a bus mechanic with the Port Authority, left the agency to serve full time as a local union officer and later was named maintenance training coordinator for the International ATU in Washington, D.C.
A lifelong resident of Brentwood, Mr. Remark died Jan. 1 of COVID-19. He was 84.
Shortly after graduating from Brentwood High School in 1955, Mr. Remark joined the Naval Construction Battalion, known as the SeaBees, as a reservist.
In 1958, he married Thelma Lowry, his high school sweetheart.
Theirs was a love story, said their daughter, Monica Tompkins, of Jefferson Hills.
“We were very lucky to have love surrounding us,” she said.
Mr. Remark went to work as a Port Authority mechanic in 1964 and served as a local shop steward before his election as an officer in 1972.
Mr. Remark was reelected time and again for the next 22 years, until he retired in 1994.
Two anecdotes shared by his family and friends perfectly illustrate his character.
“He frequently traveled to Harrisburg” to lobby legislators, said his son-in-law, David Tompkins.
“He would take me with him and if we stayed at a hotel overnight, we’d go to breakfast the next morning,”Mr. Tompkins recalled. “He would buy a bunch of extra breakfasts and take them back to the hotel for the staff. That is the kind of man he was.”
“Those were the kind of things that mattered to him,” his daughter said.
The other example came from Mr. Di Perna, who first heard of Mr. Remark after suffering critical injuries in a crash.
“I was just a 16-year-old kid and got into this horrible car accident,” said Mr. Di Perna, whose father, James, was at the time an overhead lineman for the Port Authority’s light-rail system.
“I was in very bad condition. I was in and out of a coma. I had to get facial surgery done immediately, but because it was considered cosmetic reconstructive surgery, the insurance company gave us a really hard time. My dad reached out to John and he somehow miraculously got it corrected that day and the insurance company paid every dime for the surgery. John got that done.”
It was serendipitous that Jeffrey Di Perna would later be elected to the same office as the man who championed his cause years earlier.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Mr. Di Perna said.
Although Mr. Remark officially retired after serving several years with the International ATU, his influence still carried weight.
He never really left the job, Mr. Di Perna said.
“He stayed involved up until about two months ago,” he said. “He would go to the (state) Capitol Rotunda and just start knocking on doors. Everybody knew who he was.”
Mr. Remark’s impact at the international level also continued, according to International ATU President John Costa.
“John Remark was a dedicated leader…who advocated for better wages, improved working conditions, strong health care, and pension benefits for thousands of our members,” Mr. Costa said in a statement.
“At the International, John played an important role in developing workforce training and apprenticeship programs at our locals to ensure our members were prepared to deal with the changing technology in our industry and advance their careers.”
A statement by the International Transportation Learning Center described Mr. Remark as “a reliable friend and a perfect gentleman.”
“Johnny worked very closely with the team at the ITLC in outreach to dozens of transit systems represented by ATU.
He facilitated development of effective training programs in locations where none had existed, and he helped upgrade and expand training that existed to some degree but needed substantial upgrading,” said the statement on the organization’s website.
Mr. Remark also was a devout Catholic who served as an Oblate of Saint Benedict’s Monastery and attended annual retreats at Saint Vincent Archabbey in Latrobe.
He volunteered as an usher and eucharistic minister at Saint Sylvester Catholic Church in Brentwood and at the former Kane Hospital, and was a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians andKnights of Columbus.
Mr. Remark should be remembered for his tireless work to improve the lives of union workers and his effervescent, humble personality, his daughter said.
“He was generous and kind to all, always,” she said. “We were blessed to have him.”
Along with his wife, daughter and son-in-law, Mr. Remark is survived by sons John Remark Jr., of Mt. Lebanon, and Jeffrey Remark, of South Park; a sister, Mary Therese “Gorey” Doran, of Baldwin Borough; four grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. His funeral was Jan. 6. Memorial donations are suggested to the charity of one’s choice in Mr. Remark’s name or the St. Joseph House of Hospitality, 1635 Bedford Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15219.