Jim Ridderbusch, a retired member of Operating Engineers Local 701, died Jan. 6 after being hit by a car crossing the street in Southwest Portland. The accident occurred just before 7:45 p.m. at Southwest Macadam Avenue and Southwest Pendleton Street, the neighborhood where he lived.
Ridderbusch, 76, joined Operating Engineers Local 12 in Southern California in November 1966. He transferred to Gladstone-based Local 701 in September 1973.
He went to work for the local as a field representative in Central Oregon and was eventually made a field supervisor. He also served as a trustee and recording corresponding secretary on Local 701’s Executive Board.
Ridderbusch left the union staff in 1991 for a position at Fair Contracting Foundation. He stayed in that post until 1998, when he went to work for Cascade General as a labor relations consultant and contract administrator.
He retired in 2002.
James A. Ridderbusch was born June 14, 1935, in Portland, Oregon and was a lifelong Oregon resident. He was raised in Bend, Oregon, and graduated from Bend High School in 1953. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1957-1960.
Ridderbusch enjoyed the outdoors and had a wide range of interests that included traveling, fishing, hunting and rafting.
Ridderbusch is survived by four children: daughters Amy McCann of Battle Ground, Wash., Anne Holman of Bend, and Terry Ocker of Las Cruces, N.M.; and a son, Tony Jackson of Beaverton; seven grandchildren; and a brother, Chuck Ridderbusch of Bremerton, Wash.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 22, at the Local 701 Union Hall, 555 East First Street, Gladstone, Oregon.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Local 701 scholarship fund in memory of Jim Ridderbusch.
