PHILADELPHIA — Drew Lewis, a businessman who served as U.S. transportation secretary under President Ronald Reagan during the 1981 air traffic controllers’ strike, has died at age 84.

As transportation secretary, Lewis was the Republican administration’s chief representative in a bitter labor dispute with the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization. Reagan fired 11,400 members of the union for mounting an illegal strike.

His tenure also saw the first federal gasoline tax increase in more than 20 years, the nickel hike providing funds for infrastructure improvements, including mass transit projects.

In backing the increase, Reagan described it as a “user fee” rather than a tax since it was part of the cost of gasoline.