* Verney Caesar; Retired Union Agent, Arbitrator

Verney C. Caesar of Oxnard, a retired Los Angeles Teamster business agent and arbitrator, died Dec. 15 at a local hospital after suffering a massive stroke. He was 79.

Caesar was born Nov. 13, 1918, in Red Tank, Panama Canal Zone, and retired in Oxnard.

He studied architectural drawing in college and got his first job with the Panama Canal Co. Later, he moved with his family to Los Angeles, where he worked for Safeway.

His family said Caesar was a champion of the working man throughout his life, and in 1952 organized minority Panama Canal Zone workers and minority U.S. armed forces employees working in the Canal Zone.

“Minority Canal Zone workers were discriminated against back then and he hated to see people being trampled,” said his brother George Caesar of Atlanta.

According to his family, Caesar, as a result of his efforts to organize workers, could no longer get work in the Canal Zone. In 1952, he moved to Los Angeles with his wife and four children.

At Safeway, Caesar served as the Teamster Local 595 shop steward for several years. In 1967, he became a business agent for the union and emerged as a skillful arbitrator, fighting for the rights of rank-and-file workers, his family said.

“When he saw injustice, it tore him up inside and he knew he needed to do something about it,” said his wife Gloria.

She said Caesar in retirement mostly liked to take care of other people.

“He was handy and he did all kinds of things for people all over the neighborhood. He was loved by our neighbors,” Gloria Caesar said.

In addition to his wife and brother, Caesar is survived by daughters Lita, Maureen and Kathleen as well as sons David, Keith, Richard and Frank. He is also survived by sisters Ermine Caesar and Emily Moore. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at the Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura.

Memorial Contributions may be made to the United Negro College Fund, 725 S. Figueroa St., Ste. 800, Los Angeles, 90017.