Robert E. Nagle

Robert E. Nagle, Jr., who passed away in 2014 at age 84, had a long and impressive career, including helping to draft the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) and serving as executive director of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (“PBGC”). He was inducted into the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel (the “College”) in 2000 as a Charter Fellow.

Bob received his B.A. from Wesleyan University, in Middleton, CT and his J.D. from University of Chicago Law School in 1954. He earned his LL.M. from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC.

After graduating from law school, Bob served as a legal officer in the U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General’s Corps at Camp Pendleton in California. Upon leaving the Navy, he embarked on over two decades of government service, where most of his work targeted the protection of the rights, health, and safety of American workers. This service included more than a decade at the U.S. Department of Labor, where he litigated cases related to the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Equal Pay Act.

During the Kennedy administration, he served as a special counsel to the President's Committee on Equal Employment Opportunity, where he helped impose sanctions on government contractors who discriminated on the basis of race. He was associate counsel to the Senate Subcommittee on Labor in 1969 to 1970, where he was involved in developing and drafting the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (“OSHA”) and the Coal Mine Safety Act of 1969.

From 1971 to 1974, he was general counsel to the Senate Committee on Labor and Public Welfare, where he helped develop and draft ERISA. He was in private practice from 1974 to 1979.

From 1979 to 1982, he was executive director of the PBGC, a period that saw the adoption of the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act of 1980 (“MPPAA”) and the early implementation of the PBGC insurance program.

From 1982 until his death, he served as an arbitrator and mediator in employee benefits and labor disputes, including pension withdrawal liability and health and pension benefit claims. From 1985 until his death, he served as neutral trustee and chairman of two multiemployer pension and health benefit funds for coal mine construction workers. College Fellow Jeff Cohen, who was counsel to the funds from 1985 to 1989, admired Bob’s exceptional skill in these non-legal roles. Bob was a mentor to Jeff and many other arbitrators.

A valued expert, he made time to serve as contributing author to BNA’s Employee Benefits Law 2d ed. and ERISA Litigation 3d ed. and their annual supplements, as well as being a member of the Advisory Board of BNA’s Pension and Benefits Reporter.

Bob served as a Michael S. Gordon Fellow at the Pension Rights Center. “…Bob provided invaluable advice on numerous legal and policy issues. He was an amazing person, extraordinarily knowledgeable, wonderfully wise, and incredibly generous with his time. He was loved and admired by all,” said then-Center Director and College Fellow Karen Ferguson. For more information, see: https://pensionrights.org/a-tribute-to-retirement-security-hero-bob-nagle/ Jeff Cohen noted that Bob was the recipient of PBGC’s Jacob Javits Award for Outstanding Contribution to Retirement Security at the agency’s 35th anniversary event in 2009.

Bob took great pleasure in traveling and playing classical guitar. A luminary in the pension area, he was admired by those who knew him and remembered for his wisdom, judiciousness, kindness, and wit.

For quotes from Bob in his own words, see these portions of “ERISA at 40” oral history symposium (https://pensionrights.org/erisa-at-40-the-past-puts-pension-law-in-perspective/): https://drexel.edu/~/media/Files/law/law%20review/Spring2014/Panel%202_revised2.ashx
https://drexel.edu/~/media/Files/law/law%20review/Spring2014/Panel%204_revised.ashx


Photo Source: The Decade Book, American College of Employee Benefits Counsel 2000-2010