Edward A. Filene (1860-1937)

Inducted: 1976

This Boston merchant contributed time, energy, and huge sums of money to the growth of consumer cooperation and specifically to cooperatively-controlled consumer credit. He helped bring about state legislation to make credit unions possible, and saw a national association of them formed in 1934. His initiative and financial support brought the fledgling movement into being.

He founded and financed the Twentieth Century Fund to do research on economic problems, and later the Goodwill Fund to work on problems of health, poverty, medical care, and consumer cooperatives. . He funded the Consumer Distribution Foundation out of which Greenbelt Consumer Services became a reality.