Ellsworth, Theodore R.

Theodore "Ted" Roosevelt Ellsworth's activities as a health plan administrator and consultant, union representative and labor management arbitrator, educator, and activist for the aging ranged over a period of more than 45 years. He was born in Johnson City, Tennessee on Feb. 5, 1906 to Elmer Ellis Ellsworth, and Carrie Lucinda S. Kennedy. Ted was the youngest of seven children, Joseph, Kennedy, Elizabeth, Elmer, Carrie, and Phil, all of whom predeceased him. In 1911, Ted and his family moved to Los Angeles, and in 1919 he graduated from Grant Grammar school, then from Hollywood High in 1925. Ted attended Occidental College on a basketball scholarship. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1929 with a major in political science and English. Ted spent 1930 as a post graduate at the University of Cincinnati studying political science and public administration. From 1931 to 1942, Ted was a costumer at various motion picture studios. From 1941 to 1942, he was head of the men's wardrobe department at Warner Brothers. Ted's brother Elmer also worked at Warner Brothers, and later, MGM. Elmer was a Business Agent for the Costumer's Union from 1958-1963, and died on April 4, 1969. Elmer's son Bob received a Life Time Achievement Award from Local 705. Ellsworth became involved with the union during a revolt of the Warner Brothers wardrobe men against gangster Willie Bioff's attempt to take over the industry. Ted was active in the Motion Picture Costumers Union Local 705 (I.A.T.S.E.) from 1937, when the local received its charter. Ellsworth participated in local 705's first negotiating committee, filing a successful grievance on behalf of a 72 year old tailor receiving 10 cents per hour below union contract. Ted became the local's first President, and in 1941, started the Costumer newsletter for the benefit of members serving in WWII. Ted was Business Agent for local 705 from 1942 to 1952. According to an article in the Nation (Jun 22, 1974, p. 782), he was labeled one of the "Hollywood Kremlin" by Roy. M. Brewer, a Hollywood I.A.T.S.E. official "who was the source of many of Reagan's opinions about the Hollywood strike." Although Ellsworth was not a communist, he opposed union-busting policy and testified under Congressional immunity before the Kearns Committee. After helping to form the Motion Picture Health and Welfare Fund, Ellsworth became its first administrator and served from 1952-1958. Although Ellsworth's involvement with issues of the aging began with his union involvement, in the 1940s, John Anson Ford appointed him to the Advisory Board on Aging (later the Los Angeles County Commission on Aging) where he served into the 1950s including two terms as president. In 1955, he testified before the House of Representatives Committee on Discrimination of Older Workers. Ellsworth began his association with UCLA as one of the first to receive UCLA's Certificate in Industrial Relations in 1950. In 1958, he joined the Center for Labor Research and Education within the Institute of Industrial Relations where he functioned as Administrator of Public Programs and Associate Administrator of Labor Programs. From 1950 to 1958, Ellsworth taught UC extension classes in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, and Santa Barbara on labor history, health, welfare and pension plans, and grievances and arbitration. Ellsworth took a six month leave from UCLA in 1962 to serve as a consultant to the Cameron Committee, U.S. Congress Committee on Education and Labor, General Subcommittee on Education, and contributed to the report, Problems of the Aged and Aging. Ellsworth was a member of the California Senior Legislature (CSL) a nonpartisan, volunteer organization of 120 elected members who generated bill proposals on senior issues. He was also involved in nursing home reform initiatives with Gray Davis that resulted in public disclosure requirements for hospital and nursing home compliance reports. In 1964, Ted ran unsuccessfully for the State Assembly as a Democrat. Ellsworth retired from UCLA in 1974, after winning a one year reprieve by filing a grievance against UCLA's practice of forced retirement at age 67. Ted's activism on this issue contributed to the passage of two laws restricting this practice in both public and private agencies in California. After retirement, Ted continued to teach at UCLA and the Catholic Labor Institute. In 1974, Ellsworth worked with the Medical Malpractice Committee as an intermediary with the labor unions resulting in the California Legislature's passage of AB1XX. Leaders of the committee later created the Doctors Company, the largest doctor's malpractice insurance company in the U.S. Ted served on the Board of Directors for 10 years in keeping with the insistence of the insurance commissioner that the board include a layman. While at UCLA, Ellsworth began consulting and worked as an arbitrator from the 1970s to early 1990s on over 300 cases. During the 1980s, Ellsworth operated two consulting companies - Underwriting Consultants, Inc. and Planned Services, Inc. Ted was an advocate for the aging throughout his career. He was a member of the California Citizen's Advisory Committee on Aging, President of the International Senior Citizens Association, President of the Senior Coalition Political Action Committee, co-founder of the Los Angeles County Affiliated Agencies on Aging, and Chairman of the Steering Committee, Alliance for Health Care Cost Containment. Ted was also Vice-Chairman of the California Commission on Aging, a member of the House Conference Committee on Aging, and was a representative to the 1981 White House Conference on Aging. Ted Ellsworth died on April 26, 1996 at the age of 90. A letter of sympathy from Bill and Hillary Clinton was read at his memorial on June 7, 1996.

From the description of The Theodore "Ted" R. Ellsworth collection, 1919-1996. (California State University, Northridge). WorldCat record id: 759628427