Jean Jacques Couturier, 79; Union Organizer, Professor - washingtonpost.com
Shu Bartholomew informed me that Jean Couturier had passed away in early December. I am very sorry to see him go. He was a great man, they don’t make many people like him anymore. I met him at Borders book signing in Silver Spring, MD. He was interested in HOA reform and had some practical ideas about it. I gave a talk and mentioned Charles Ascher, who designed the model private government for Radburn, and he sent up a note that said, “I knew Charles Asher.” That was quite a shock, because all the events I described had occurred in 1928! Then we hooked up again in Oak Park. One of his chidren lived there. He was exploring the feasibility of a national HOA owners groups and told me he had decided it was going to be difficult, but he came up with a model for doing it. He was very smart, knew a whole lot about how to run organizations and governments, and was dedicated to the public good. It is really a great loss. My condolences to his family and friends. Here is part of the obituary from the Washington Post:
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Jean Jacques Couturier, 79, a union organizer, civil service reformer and university professor before retiring as executive director of the Senior Executives Association in Washington, died Dec. 7 at Lancaster Regional Medical Center in Lititz, Pa. A former resident of Chevy Chase, he had lived in Lancaster, Pa., since 2004. He spent the last two years of his career advocating for senior-level government workers. Before retiring in 1983, he took issue with reports that aides to former EPA administrator Anne Burford had compiled a hit list of career employees that they wanted fired or reassigned. He urged the Office of the Special Counsel of the Merit Systems Protection Board to investigate the alleged harassment.Throughout his career, Mr. Couturier worked on behalf of federal, state and local employees at all levels. He also spoke and wrote on topics such as civil service reform, collective bargaining in government, federal encroachment on state and local governments and careers in public management. In the academic arena for several years, he was director of research and sponsored programs at American University's College of Public and International Affairs in the early 1980s, as well as being an adjunct professor in residence in the School of Government and Public Administration, now called the School of Public Affairs. From 1974 to 1980, he was professor of public management and director of graduate studies in public management at Northwestern University. He was co-author of the book "The Public Interest in Government Labor Relations" (1977). One of Mr. Couturier's biggest achievements, said his son, Andy Couturier of Oakland, Calif., was his development of the National Civil Service Reform League's Model Public Personnel Administration Law of 1970, which has been adopted by numerous local governments.