Hevesi headlines luncheon for Thomas Van Arsdale.

State of Israel Bonds will honor Thomas Van Arsdale, business manager of Local Union No. 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, at a luncheon marking Israel Bonds' 50th anniversary Dec. 14, at 11:30 a.m. at the New York Hilton. The event is sponsored by Israel Bonds' Electrical Industries Division, a unit of its Real Estate and Construction Division.

Van Arsdale, who is also treasurer emeritus of the I.B.E.W. and immediate past president of the New York City Central Labor Council, will receive a special 50th anniversary award for his lifelong support of the Israel Bonds program to strengthen Israel's economy.

He has been an active participant since the early 1950's, when his late father Harry Van Arsdale, Jr. and several other union and management leaders founded the Electrical Division as the first industry campaign in Israel Bonds' history.

New York City Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi will be guest speaker.

Brian M. McLaughlin, current president of the New York City Central Labor Council, is chairman of the luncheon. Howard Hirsch of Forest Electric Co., chairman of Israel Bonds' New York Metropolitan Region, and Matthew Gold of Midtown Electric Supply Co. are general chairmen.

Van Arsdale joined the Local in 1946 and worked as an apprentice, journeyman, and fore-man electrician. He was elected to the Executive Board in 1953, became a business representative five years later, and served in many major posts leading to his election as business manager in 1968.

Van Arsdale was elected international treasurer of the I.B.E.W. in 1978, a position he held for 20 years. In 1985, he was elected president of the New York City Central Labor Council and served until 1995.

Van Arsdale has been a member of the Executive Committee of the New York State Association of Electrical Workers, Executive Board of the New York City Building and Construction Trades Council, and Joint Industry Board and Pension Committee.

In communal life, he has served on the Labor Advisory Committee at Cornell University's New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Executive Committee of the New York City Council on Economic Education, and boards of the State University of New York, New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, National Committee of Labor Israel, Catholic Interracial Council, Police Athletic League, Greater New York Fund, and United Way of New York City.