Login | May 23, 2025
Family, colleagues remember longtime labor atty
SHERRY KARABIN
Legal News Reporter
Published: February 8, 2017
A longtime Akron labor attorney who arduously fought for the rights of rubber workers has died after a brief illness.
George Basil Vasko passed away on Jan. 7 while surrounded by his family. He was 85.
“My father was a great dad,” said his daughter Kimberly Vasko, the second oldest of his five children.
“He was the kind of person that you could always talk to if you were stressed or upset about something. He would always calm you down and provide a logical way to get you out of any jam.”
“My father was an excellent role model,” said his son Scott Vasko. “He got me my first job and taught me respect for the working man. He instilled a strong sense of faith in me, which I got by watching him practice and live his Catholic values.
“He taught me how to be a good father to my own daughter.”
His former longtime law partner Carmen Roberto described Vasko as “the finest man I’ve ever met with the exception of my father. It was a privilege to practice law with him and an even greater honor to know him as a person.
“George was one of the last living advocates involved in the rubber wars of the 1950s and 1960s,” said Roberto, an attorney at Niekamp, Weisensell, Mutersbaugh & Mastrantonio. “He inspired a number of our secretaries to become lawyers.”
Born in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania on Nov. 12, 1931 to Ludvia and Vasil Vasko, he began working at BFGoodrich on the evening of his graduation from Phoenixville High School.
Roberto said it was during his time at the company that Vasko became interested in labor practices and wanted to help resolve issues facing his fellow labor workers.
Vasko worked 16-hour days at BFGoodrich’s Phoenixville location to cover the costs of attending Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. He studied history and economics.
“George was about 6-foot-2 or 6-foot-3 and he was the center on the basketball team at Ursinus,” said Roberto.
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in history, Vasko entered the U.S. Army, where he was a member of the military police.
It was during his time in the military that he met his wife, Diane.
“She and a friend of hers drove by his post,” said Kimberly. “He was getting off duty but he asked the person who was there to be sure and get my mom’s number if she came by again. My mom had also noticed him as it turns out. The rest, as they say, is history.”
The two got married in 1957 and have four daughters and a son.
Vasko received his juris doctor from Boston College Law School in 1960.
Shortly after, he moved to Akron where he was appointed assistant general counsel of the United Rubber Workers. In 1967, he became the general counsel.
He later joined Miller & Morris, where he worked with Roberto and continued representing unions along with handling some civil litigation.
Roberto recalled being on the opposite end of the negotiating table with Vasko in the late 1970s.
“I was the law director for Cuyahoga Falls at the time and George was representing the firefighters union.
“George had such a great personality,” he said. “I was going down the list of the city’s positions and every time I read off a demand, George threw a Lincoln penny across the table at me.
“When I was done I asked him what the pennies were for and he said that’s what each one of my thoughts was worth. It definitely broke the tension. George was known for doing things like that.”
Vasko and Roberto later practiced with Vasko, Howard & Morris and for many years they had their own firm, Vasko & Roberto.
“We had a number of high profile cases,” said Roberto. “George and I were asked to merge with the larger firms a number of times, but George did not want to. He wanted us to maintain control of our practice.”
He said Vasko, who was of Czechoslovakian descent, never raised his voice but when he was angry he would speak in his native tongue. “I did not understand him but I would respond in Italian, which I did not speak well.”
The firm changed names a few times over the years and was known as Vasko, Roberto & Evans when he retired.
“George made practicing law fun,” said Roberto. “When he retired, I stopped enjoying practicing law. Now I do it because it’s my livelihood.”
Sole practitioner Bill Evans said Vasko was a “highly skilled and tenacious negotiator.
“George could argue his case and make his points succinctly and effectively with fewer words than most attorneys,” said Evans, a former partner at Vasko, Roberto & Evans.
“He was a great humanitarian who fought equally hard for his clients regardless of their station in life or how much money they had.
“He was an iconic character equally revered by clients and opponents.”
Roberto said Vasko got such good results for workers that members of management started hiring him when they were illegally terminated.
“George was definitely not about the money,” Roberto said. “I remember when he won a $1 million settlement that he only charged a $1,000 fee. I was a little upset by that but in the end it paid off because it generated other large cases.”
During his career, he frequently provided pro bono services, serving as president of the Legal Aid Society and as a board member for the Visiting Nurse Service of Summit County, the Summit County Catholic School Commission and the Akron Art Institute respectively.
Vasko also chaired the Public Defender’s Office and was treasurer of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society.
In 2003 Vasko received the Professionalism Award from the Akron Bar Association.
“George was extremely active in the Akron Bar Association,” said Roberto, a former bar president. “He was also a dedicated family man.”
His daughter said her father possessed a “big personality” and loved life and people.
“I used to go to work with him a lot and when we would go to the court everyone would light up when they saw my dad,” said Kimberly, a pediatric occupational therapist in Louisville, Kentucky. “He always treated everyone with respect and was so bubbly.”
She said her father enjoyed having lively dinner conversations and debates and playing basketball, pool and ping pong. “My dad was always competitive even when he played with his kids,” she said. “He also loved sporting events. I can remember him taking us to see the Browns game no matter how cold it was.
“He was also a big fan of the Cavaliers, Indians and The Ohio State Buckeyes,” said Kimberly. “We took a lot of vacations together and he loved Cedar Point. He was like a kid as he raced to get from one ride to the other.”
Scott said his father threw him a wonderful bachelor party that he would always remember.
“He took all my groomsmen and my best man to Atlantic City. We had a nice dinner and shot craps all weekend.
“I miss him a lot,” said Scott.
Kimberly said he helped to inspire her daughter, Elise Hofer McKelvey, to become an attorney.
“Elise cherishes her grandfather’s law school diploma and the law books he gave her,” said Kimberly.
Vasko was laid to rest on Jan. 12 at Western Reserve National Cemetery, where he received a military funeral honors ceremony.
“George was the most honorable person I’ve known,” said Roberto. “I cry inside every day since he passed away.”
He leaves behind his wife Diane; children Sharon (John) Lamprinakos, Kimberly Vasko, Scott (Janice) Vasko, Tracy Vasko and Kelly (John) Thomas; ten grandchildren Brittany, Elise, Alex, Matt, Cassie, Tyler, Nick, Faith, Natalie and Carter and great-grandchildren Liam and Isaac.