Courtesy of UniSea

The president of Unalaska's biggest processing company has passed away. Terry Shaff, 67, died this weekend shortly after he began treatment for pancreatic cancer.

Shaff served as UniSea's top executive for 16 years. But his first job at the company was on the ground in Unalaska. When Shaff arrived in the early 1990s, the company was still breaking down fish on a barge.

"It just started out as almost like a remote fish camp and [he] built it right up into a city," says Chris Plaisance, UniSea's corporate human resources director. 

Shaff oversaw that transformation. UniSea got rid of the barge and expanded their processing operations on shore. They also built a power plant, galley, and huge amounts of employee housing. And over the years, the company grew to fill it: UniSea now has about 1,400 workers. 

But Shaff still tried to foster close ties with his employees. Michelle Cochran -- UniSea's human resources manager in Unalaska -- says Shaff made a point of eating in the galley every day during his frequent visits to the plant.

"Never turned anyone away who wanted to come up and ask him a question or wanted to introduce themselves," Cochran says. "He knew lots of employee names and was very clear with his management team that the most important employees at UniSea are our processing employees, and they need to be treated as such."

Shaff was also a firm advocate for the fishing industry as a whole. He was the longest-serving chair that the Pacific Seafood Processors Association has had to date.

"He didn’t shy away from getting involved in issues that may not have been popular if he felt strongly about them," says PSPA president Glenn Reid.

Among those issues was an increase to Alaska's minimum wage. Voters approved the measure, but Shaff was against it. 

"In a situation in the seafood industry like UniSea, and other members in remote locations, your transportation to your work site is paid, your room and board are covered," Reid says. "So the overall compensation package is quite a bit higher than just the basic minimum wage."

While Shaff helped make that case, he also threw his weight behind efforts to harness the fishing industry's resources for the public's benefit.

SeaShare is a nonprofit  that lines up deliveries of seafood bycatch for food banks. Instead of sharing incidental catch, Shaff arranged big donations of UniSea’s target species. He also encouraged the Pacific Seafood Processors to follow up with a $100,000 donation, Reid says.

Although Shaff was ill, he continued working until the day he passed away. Shaff wasn't expected to retire for another few years. At that point, vice president Tom Enlow was supposed to take the reins. 

That change may be coming sooner than expected, says Chris Plaisance. But for now, the company is in a good position to continue on the path that Shaff helped set over the last two decades.

Shaff is survived by his mother, siblings, two adult children, numerous grandchildren, and his spouse. A celebration of life will be held on Friday in Ballard, Wash.