Thomas Milletary, a practitioner of the dying art of plastering who became a well-known Pittsburgh contractor and trade group leader, died Wednesday of heart attack complications. He was 59.

Mr. Milletary, of Monroeville, was part-owner and executive vice president of Easley & Rivers Inc., one of the largest interior contractors and office furniture distributors in the region.

He was also the president of the Master Interior Contractors Association (a position he stepped down from this autumn), was on the directors' board at the Master Builders' Association of Western Pennsylvania and sat on several other local trust fund boards.

"He was a true leader in the industry, well respected by labor," said Jack Ramage, executive director of the Master Builders' Association.

Mr. Milletary started as a lather -- lathing is the first step in building a plaster wall. Wooden planks, or laths, are nailed to wall studs, and the plaster is applied on top of the lath backbone. "It's kind of a lost art, a dead trade. There's not much of it going on. What's little of is done is done by the carpenters," Mr. Ramage said.

Soon, he moved out of the labor ranks and into management, working at Easley & Rivers, where his father also worked.

"For my mind," said Jack Brooks, an executive with the Greater Pennsylvania Regional Council of Carpenters, "he never forgot where he came from." The carpenters have a good relationship with Easley & Rivers in part because of Mr. Milletary, and the two are partners in the construction of the carpenters' new training center, overlooking the Parkway West.

Friend and colleague Jack Burchick, owner of Burchick Construction Co. Inc., said Mr. Milletary was no-nonsense when it came to the ins and outs of labor relations and union contracts. "He was a tough, rough, Mafioso-looking guy, slicked his hair straight back," Mr. Burchick said.

"There's not one man who had [his] full complement of knowledge ... If you're in the commercial business in this town, you'd know Tom Milletary."

Mr. Milletary is survived by his wife, Sandra; daughters Tammy Norman and Carrie Whiteman; and three grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled for 2 p.m. today at Jefferson Memorial Funeral Home, 301 Curry Hollow Road, Pleasant Hills. Memorial contributions can be made to the Humane Society of Western Pennsylvania or the Lupus Foundation of Pittsburgh.

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