Memorials

ACCI was saddened to learn of the recent passing of Rhoda Karpatkin.

Rhoda Karpatkin, the first female executive director of Consumers Union, died on August 5, 2023. Ms. Karpatkin’s dedication to improving consumer well-being began early in her career. After graduating from Yale Law School, she practiced law for 20 years, specializing in consumer and education law. Subsequently, she served in a variety of roles in which she championed civil, labor, women’s, and consumer rights. Most prominent among these was her leadership at Consumers Union, which rates and compares products with the support of grants, donations, and subscriptions, and publishes Consumer Reports.

As executive director of Consumers Union, Ms. Karpatkin raised the funds to build the National Testing and Research Center in Yonkers, NY, and an automobile testing track in Connecticut. Under Ms. Karpatkin’s leadership, the organization also added to its roster of publications and services, including Consumer Reports Online, and more than doubled subscriptions to Consumer Reports. She also served two terms as president of the International Organization of Consumers Unions (now Consumers International), where she monitored the policies of international corporations.

Ms. Karpatkin remained active in later life. She served as a member of the President’s Advisory Committee on Trade Policy and Negotiations, the Committee on Trade and Environmental Policy, and the Steering Committee of the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue. She was on various boards and advisory boards, including the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy and the Human Rights Watch Children’s Rights Division. Ms. Karpatkin was an advocate for a single-payer health care system, under which one public authority provides and pays for health care.

In 2005, the American Council on Consumer Interests (ACCI) established the Rhoda Karpatkin Consumer International Award to honor her pioneering work on behalf of consumers throughout the world. Recipients are those who have made significant contributions to consumer welfare on the international stage, are recognized as consumer leaders, and are members of ACCI or Consumers International. In 1996, Ms. Karpatkin wrote, “Consumers and their Discontents: Issues for a Civil Society“ for Advancing the Consumer Interest, an ACCI publication. The discontents she identified still resonate today and clearly were motivations for Ms. Karpatkin’s work throughout her career: She wrote:

• So many consumers are struggling to keep up financially or are consigned to poverty and…so many of America’s national and state leaders are working hard to make their conditions harsher.
• Consumers in America can’t be truly content when we consume products that result from abusive and exploitative working conditions.
• Consumers in America must be discontented when our style of consumption causes severe environmental damage.
• Her challenge to consumer organizations was to put these issues on their agenda, get involved in the policy-making process, and to define and strengthen the linkage between their organizations and the people affected by these issues.

Rhoda Karpatkin’s career will continue to serve as an inspiration for those who seek to advance and preserve the rights of consumers, workers, and women.