Ah Quon McElrath, who helped shape the history of labor and social justice in Hawai'i, died yesterday at the Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center.

She was 92.

McElrath had been ill with cancer and other ailments. Funeral arrangements have not been announced, but the family is planning private services, according to Joanne Kealoha of ILWU Local 142. The union will hold a celebration of life to honor McElrath to coincide with Jack Hall Day in February, she said.

McElrath was born in 1915 in Iwilei to Chinese immigrants.

After going to work in the pineapple cannery as age 13, McElrath graduated from the University of Hawai'i in 1938 and soon became a key figure with Local 152 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Through the 1950s, the ILWU united sugar and dock workers of different ethnicities in an effort to fight for higher wages and work conditions.

McElrath took on the job as the union's social worker, initially as a volunteer. She worked alongside two other ILWU legends, longtime regional director Jack Hall and information director Bob McElrath, whom she married in 1941. They had two children.

McElrath remained an activist for numerous causes throughout her life, prowling the halls of the Legislature to lobby for a wide range of causes including woman's rights, healthcare and occupational safety concerns, educational opportunities, unemployment and disability insurance, gun control and physician-assisted suicide.

In 1995, McElrath was appointed to the University of Hawaii Board of Regents by Gov. Ben Cayetano and served until 2003.

Among the many awards and honors bestowed on her was the UH Founders Alumni Association Lifetime Achievement Award, for her leadership in advocating social change in education and improving social conditions throughout Hawai'i. She also was named a recipient of the 2004 Hooulu Award for leadership from the Hawaii Institute for Public Affairs.