Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus (1884 – 1967) was a long-time educator and the first woman high school principal in California, but is better known as the founder of AARP in 1958. She was born on September 21, 1884 in San Francisco, California.
She earned a Bachelor of Philosophy (S.B. or Scientiæ Baccalaureus) degree from the University of Chicago in 1903 and the Bachelor of Science degree from Lewis Institute in 1918. She then went on to receive her Mas...
more
Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus (1884 – 1967) was a long-time educator and the first woman high school principal in California, but is better known as the founder of AARP in 1958. She was born on September 21, 1884 in San Francisco, California.
She earned a Bachelor of Philosophy (S.B. or Scientiæ Baccalaureus) degree from the University of Chicago in 1903 and the Bachelor of Science degree from Lewis Institute in 1918. She then went on to receive her Master's (1928) and Doctorate (1930) degrees from the University of Southern California.
Andrus founded a separate organization, the National Retired Teachers Association (NRTA) in 1947. She realized that retired teachers were living on incredibly small pensions, often without any health insurance. She approached more than 30 companies to offer health insurance to retired teachers, before she found someone willing to take a chance on NRTA members in 1956. The organization then expanded its membership to all retirees and became AARP in 1958.
Today...
less
