Rhoda Karpatkin in Memoriam

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• Author: Brenda J. Cude
• Date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12555

COMMENTARY

Rhoda Karpatkin in Memoriam

Brenda J. Cude

University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

Correspondence

Brenda J. Cude, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia USA.

Email: bcude@uga.edu

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 pub-

lications 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 Envi-

ronmental Policy, and the Steering Committee of the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue. She

was on various boards and advisory boards, including the National Committee for

Received: 22 August 2023 Accepted: 25 August 2023

DOI: 10.1111/joca.12555

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distrib ution and

reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2023 The Author. Journal of Consumer Affairs published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Council on Consumer

Interests.

J Consum Aff. 2023;57:987–988. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/joca 987