Controversial developer J. Leon Altemose

THE 16 BUSES were hired for a "children's picnic."

But when they arrived at their destination, it was no picnic.

Some 1,000 members of Philadelphia building and construction unions, led by rowdy Roofers Union Local 30, were there to teach a hard lesson to J. Leon Altemose.

Altemose was in the process of building the Valley Forge Sheraton with nonunion labor and on that day, June 5, 1972, a mob of hard-hat union members spilled out of their buses, trampled a mile of cyclone fence, shoved aside local cops, hurled firebombs at trucks and other equipment and caused more than $300,000 damage. A couple of weeks later, Altemose was attacked by union members on a Center City street and got a black eye. The Valley Forge attack turned out to be a landmark event in the struggle between union and nonunion contractors that had been seething for decades - and still seethes, although without much of the accompanying violence. Altemose was hailed as a hero to the open-shop crowd and condemned as a villain by labor.

The controversial figure who built millions of dollars worth of projects in the Philadelphia region in the years before and after that signature event, died Friday after a long battle with multiple sclerosis. He was 68 and lived in Malvern.

Altemose is still a villain to some. Patrick J. Gillespie, head of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, said that Altemose "was about destroying the standard of wages and driving them down. That was his brand of economics."

Geoffrey Eh, president and CEO of the Southeast Pennsylvania chapter of Associated Building Contractors, said that the attacks on Altemose and his work sites were among the last of their kind.

"The physical violence associated with union construction activity disappeared to a significant extent," Eh said.

Twenty-three men were arrested after the Valley Forge attack and 11 were sentenced to prison. Roofers Local 30 was so notorious in those years, it was placed under the jurisdiction of the court for 10 years.

In Delaware County, a different kind of controversy involved Altemose. He built a nightclub called Pulsations, in Concord Township, in 1983, which featured name entertainers and male and female strippers. The club, said to have been built on an old Indian burial ground, got off to a bad start. On opening night, Nov. 19, 1983, a lighting fixture fell and killed a patron, Margaret Jones, 37, of Media.

Pulsations had replaced Altemose's Longhorn Ranch, a family steakhouse with lots of entertainment for children that was very popular. But the nightclub was doomed and by 1995 was closed.

Altemose appeared on the "60 Minutes" TV show after the Valley Forge attack, and is the subject of a chapter in Samuel Cook's "Freedom in the Workplace." The book is dedicated to Altemose.

Over the years, Altemose had a hand in building many well-known structures in the region, including the Valley Forge Convention Center, Radisson Hotel Valley Forge, Valley Forge Condominiums and Apartments, as well as churches, township buildings, homes, office buildings and manufacturing facilities.

Altemose, who declared personal bankruptcy in 1990, listing $50 million in debts, spent some of his final years in a wheelchair battling the Charlestown Township Supervisors in Chester County to allow him to build the township's first apartment complex. The supervisors and the courts turned him down.

He is survived by his wife of 44 years, the former Carol Clemson; a daughter, Lynn Jarrett; a son, Lance; a sister and two grandchildren.

Services: Memorial service 11 a.m. Saturday at Cornerstone Church, Skippack Pike and Stump Hall Road, Skippack. Friends may call at 9 a.m. *

The Associated Press contributed to this report.