As president of the Alliance of Motion Picture & Television Producers, he led the Hollywood studios’ labor negotiations for nearly three decades, including the big dispute with writers in 2008. Nick Counter, 69, died Friday at L.A.’s West Hills Hospital, the Los Angeles Times reports.

He had retired earlier this year after 27 years at AMPTP, and another 10 as a lawyer for its predecessor organization.

In his tenure he oversaw about 400 labor contracts, and weathered the two major Writers Guild of America strikes, in 1988 and 2008.

–Elizabeth Jensen