Nicholas H. Zumas, 76; Lawyer, Labor Arbitrator

Nicholas H. Zumas, 76, a labor arbitrator who chaired the grievance
committee of the International Monetary Fund and settled professional
football and baseball disputes, died of lung cancer December 22 [2007]
at his home in Washington [DC].

For the past 35 years, Mr. Zumas arbitrated disputes, many in the
public sector. He arbitrated National Football League matters from
1994 to 2001, Major League Baseball issues from 1995 to 1997 and
numerous Postal Service and airline industry conflicts. He was
appointed to three presidential emergency boards and, from 1983 to
2007, was chairman of the International Monetary Fund's grievance
committee.

A lawyer, Mr. Zumas worked in the early 1960s on Capitol Hill and held
several positions in the Kennedy administration. He was section chief
of congressional relations at the State Department and assistant to
the undersecretary of the old Department of Health, Education and
Welfare, which required him to speak nationwide in support of the then-
new Medicare bill. He joined the law firm of Dutton, Gwirtzman, Zumas
and Wise in 1964. In 1968, after the death of Robert F. Kennedy, he
took a year off from the practice to lobby for gun-control
legislation.

After that law practice dissolved, Mr. Zumas opened his own practice
in 1972, which he operated until he retired in September.

Born in Helper, Utah, to Greek immigrant parents, he graduated from
the University of Utah and served in the Army from 1951 to 1953. He
received a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1956.

Mr. Zumas then clerked for Oregon Supreme Court Chief Justice William
C. Perry and joined a Portland, Ore., law firm, Koerner, Young,
McColloch & Dezendorf. He volunteered in the presidential campaign of
John F. Kennedy in Oregon and moved to Washington in 1961.

His marriage to Kate Blackwell ended in divorce.

Survivors include three children, Leni Zumas of New York, Diana Zumas
of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Gregory Zumas of New York; and a
brother.

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Patricia Sullivan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/25/AR200...