by Tom Price
The rough and dangerous work on the waterfront claimed another victim May 1 when Richard J. Mraz died from his injuries. He was 38.
Mraz, a member of longshore Local 13, was working as a clerk on the APL dock in the Port of Los Angeles April 13. Around 3:30 that afternoon he left the 1992 Dodge Dakota he was driving to check on a container. Somehow the truck slipped into gear. Seeing it might cause serious injuries, Mraz chased down the vehicle and attempted to get inside to stop it. In the process, he was hit in the head by the door and hurled to the ground.
Mraz was taken to the hospital where he briefly regained consciousness. Then his brain began to swell and he went into a coma from which he never recovered. The accident is still under investigation by OSHA and other authorities.
Richard Gonzalez, a Local 13 member who knew Mraz since grade school, said it was just like him to think of others and try to stop the truck.
“That was just his nature,” Gonzalez said. “He always expressed concern for the safety of his fellow workers.”
Mraz was born in Van Nuys Calif. and moved to San Pedro when he was two. He spent time as a casual and elevated to “A” status Feb. 5, 1999.
“He was a softball player and he loved to travel, especially to Hawaii,” his wife Adrianna said. “We made three trips there in one year.”
Longshore Local 13’s Ginny Sima worked with Richard and recalled a smiling and happy man.
“I got to know his family when his two sons went to school with my son John,” she said. “Everybody liked him, and we raised $4,200 at our membership meeting for his family.”
Mike Mitre, Local 13 past-president and International Executive Board member for Southern Calif., spoke of him at the recent Longshore Caucus.
“I would like to take this time to dedicate this caucus to a kid named Richie Mraz,” Mitre said. “He was a relatively young guy, but he was a guy who lived and breathed the union. He just embodied everything that Local 13 and the ILWU stands for.”
Mraz is survived by his wife Adrianna, his daughter, Addison, 14 months, and two step sons, Joe, 14 and Roy, 13.
