Ethel Percy Andrus American educator Date of Birth: 21.09.1884 Country: USA

1. Biography of Ethel Percy Andrus
2. Early Life and Education
3. Advocacy for Retired Teachers
4. Contributions to the Community
5. Legacy

Biography of Ethel Percy Andrus

Ethel Percy Andrus was an American educator, the first female high school principal in the state of California, United States. She was also the founder of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) in 1958, a non-governmental organization that currently represents over 40 million members. In 1995, Andrus was honored by the National Women's History Project as part of the Women's History Month project.

Early Life and Education

Ethel Percy Andrus was born on September 21, 1884, in San Francisco, California. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Philosophy from the University of Chicago in 1903. In 1918, she received a Bachelor of Science degree from Lewis Institute, which is now known as the Illinois Institute of Technology. She continued her academic achievements by obtaining a Master's degree in 1928 and a Doctorate degree in 1930 from the University of Southern California.

Advocacy for Retired Teachers

In 1947, Andrus founded the National Retired Teachers Association (NRTA) after realizing that retired teachers often lived on meager pensions without proper healthcare coverage. She approached over 30 companies before finding someone willing to provide medical insurance for retired teachers, leading to NRTA's establishment in 1956. The organization expanded its membership to include all retirees in the country in 1958 and transformed into the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).

Contributions to the Community

In 1954, Andrus moved to Ojai, California, where she worked on creating the retirement community "Grey Gables of Ojai," sponsored by NRTA. She managed both NRTA and AARP from her office in Ojai until 1964 when she relocated all administrative departments to Long Beach. NRTA remains a division of AARP and continues to unite retired educators. AARP follows Andrus' principles of collective voice, collective purchasing power, and collective ability to do good. Andrus also coined the organization's motto, "To serve, not to be served."

Legacy

Andrus' contributions to gerontology and education are recognized through various honors. The Leonard Davis School of Gerontology at the University of Southern California, the oldest and largest professional school of gerontology in the world, has the Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center named in her honor. As the first female principal of a California high school, she also served on the faculty of Lewis Institute in Chicago.

In 1993, Andrus was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. She passed away on July 13, 1967, at the age of 82 and was buried at Ivy Lawn Memorial Park in Ventura, California.