Dr. George Butler Heliker

POLSON — Dr. George Butler Heliker, 86, professor emeritus of the University of Montana Economics Department, died Jan. 5, 2006, at St. Joseph Hospital in Polson after a brief illness.

George was born Oct. 18, 1919, to George B. and Grace Hill Heliker, on a farm in Walled Lake, Mich., that had been in the family since 1832. He graduated from high school in Walled Lake in 1937, and then attended the University of Michigan, where he earned a Ph.D. in economics in 1954.

He joined the National War Labor Board staff in 1943 and was appointed to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service National Panel of Arbitrators in 1954. He was active in the field of labor arbitration for 55 years, continuing to take arbitration cases until 1997.

From 1947 to 1955, George taught economics at two universities in Detroit and was a research associate of the Columbia University History Department, in connection with a three-volume history of the Ford Motor Company.

He moved to Missoula in 1955 to join the Economics Department faculty at the University of Montana, where he spent the remainder of his academic career, specializing in Labor Economics.

He was chairman of the Economics Department when he retired in 1976.

In addition to labor arbitration, George was active in forensic economics and testified as an expert witness in many state and federal courts throughout the western states and Alaska.

His testimony was the subject of several leading appellate decisions of state supreme courts and federal circuit courts of appeal that established acceptance of economists' testimony in litigation involving proof of damages.

In 1971 he was elected as a delegate to the Montana Constitutional Convention, where he served as chairman of the Public Health, Welfare, Labor, and Industry Committee.

One of his prime objectives was reform of public utility regulation, and he was chiefly responsible for establishment of the office of Consumer Counsel in the new constitution.

George met his wife, Betty, when both were students at the University of Michigan. They were married in Ann Arbor in 1942. Betty was a social worker for the University of Montana and the Missoula Elementary Schools. The Helikers loved Montana, declaring themselves "refugees from Detroit." After retirement, they lived at Big Sky and Bozeman before settling at Flathead Lake in 1987.

George was a pilot, skier, backpacker, rock-climber, canoeist, sailor, big-game hunter, fly fisherman, and golfer. Before he was grounded by a heart attack at age 48, he and Betty owned their own plane, in which they toured much of the U.S. and southern Canada.

In his later years, aside from golf and hiking, his chief hobbies were surfing the Internet and dabbling in the stock market.

George is survived by his son, Russell, and daughter-in-law, Linda Brock of Vancouver, B.C.; his daughter, Cindy of Volcano, Hawaii; and his sister, Charlotte Nowaczyk of Englewood, Fla.

Preceding George in death were his wife Betty, who died on Dec. 27, 2003, after more than 61 years of marriage, and his brother Arthur who died in 1999.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Grounded Eagle Foundation (278 Kraft Creek Rd., Condon, MT 59826) or to the Mission Valley Animal Shelter Endowment Fund (P.O. Box 1644, Polson, MT 59860). George actively supported both organizations for many years and helped establish the MVAS Endowment Fund.

He and Betty are survived by two of the four cats and dogs they adopted from the shelter, and the heirs are already squabbling over them.