Patrick B. Gillespie Sr., retired building trades council executive and former state representative, has died at 76

Patrick B. Gillespie Sr., 76, of Havertown, retired longtime business manager for the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, former Pennsylvania state representative, and jovial family man, died Monday, Aug. 29, of a heart condition at his home.

Outspoken, direct, results-oriented, and even-tempered, Mr. Gillespie led the building trades council and its 70,000 members during a time of expansive construction and development in Philadelphia. He brokered beneficial private-public financing agreements and helped increase business and union work at the Navy Yard, Philadelphia International Airport, Convention Center, Penn’s Landing, and elsewhere around the five-county region.

He became an equipment operator while serving in the Army, rose to vice president of Philadelphia’s Local 542 of the International Union of Operating Engineers in 1967, and worked as business manager for the building trades council, an umbrella organization for more than 50 local construction-industry unions, from 1982 until his retirement in 2015.

He was also business agent for the trades council and vice president of the Philadelphia Council of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. As a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, he served Delaware County residents in the 162nd District from 1975 to 1977.

“He never lost sight of the importance of service,” Ryan Boyer, current business manager of the trades council, said in an online tribute. “Those of us who serve in labor leadership roles today stand on the shoulders of men like Pat Gillespie. They don’t make them like that anymore.”

Mr. Gillespie spoke often of fairness in the workplace and coordinated with business owners to create programs that addressed safety, drug testing, and counseling for employees. He represented his union members to politicians, contractors, corporate leaders, and the public, and told The Inquirer in 1985: “That’s why my shoes are shined and my hair is combed.”

He also increased employment opportunities for hospitality workers and people of color, A. Bruce Crawley, head of Millennium 3 Management Inc. and fellow board member for the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, said in an online tribute: “Philadelphia will have an extremely difficult time in trying to replace all that he represented for our region.”

Mr. Gillespie’s son Matthew said: “He fought for more minorities in the building trades because he knew it was right.” Jim Martin, former colleague and longtime friend, said Mr. Gillespie was one of the region’s most successful and influential labor leaders because “he could will things to happen.”

In addition to his personal success, Mr. Gillespie endlessly touted the contributions of his members and criticized violence that occasionally accompanied union demonstrations against nonunion workers. “He was so proud of their masterful skills and the professional training all the unions provided that gave Philadelphia its magnificent skyline,” his wife, Arlene, said.

He was a board member of the Greater Philadelphia First Corp., the Independence Health Group, and other organizations. As chair of the Independence Blue Cross Foundation board, he oversaw the awarding of nearly $70 million in charitable grants, and Gregory E. Deavens, the group’s president and chief executive officer, called Mr. Gillespie “a smart, gregarious, and extremely perceptive leader and strategic adviser” in an online tribute.

Bob O’Donnell, speaker emeritus of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, said Mr. Gillespie showed great respect, good judgment, and memorable humor as both a politician and labor leader. “That was his Irish style,” O’Donnell said.

Born Nov. 23, 1945, in West Philadelphia, Mr. Gillespie graduated from St. Thomas More High School, was drafted into the Army, and served in the Pennsylvania National Guard. He met Arlene Pastore at a dance in Southwest Philadelphia in 1963, and they were married for 54 years. They lived in West Philadelphia, Collingdale, and Havertown, and had sons Patrick Jr., Matthew, and Kevin and daughter Marie.

Irreverent and fun-loving, he was known to sing in the office, and a niece noted online that he had “Irish eyes that could light up any room.” He was usually in the bleachers when his children or grandchildren played a sports game and was often part of the crowd that gathered in his garage to work out or shoot hoops in his driveway.

He advised politicians, played golf, and was a longtime active member of St. Denis Parish. He was shot in the stomach during a botched holdup attempt in May 1982, underwent five hours of surgery, and returned to work a month later. “He was five centimeters from death,” his wife said in 1985.

He doted on his children and grandchildren, and his son Patrick Jr. said: “He was the ultimate babysitter.” On the cover of his Mass booklet, his family printed: “The brightest stars are those who shine for the benefit of others.”

In addition to his wife and children, Mr. Gillespie is survived by 10 grandchildren, three sisters, two brothers, and other relatives. A brother died earlier.

Services were Sept. 6.

Donations in his name may be made to Fred’s Footsteps, PO Box 315, Gladwyne, Pa. 19035, and Rock Ministries, 2755 Kensington Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19134.