Cooperative Hall of Fame
# Cooperative Hall of Fame

The Cooperative Hall of Fame recognizes individuals from the United States who have made outstanding contributions to cooperatives. The Hall of Fame was established in 1974 and is administered by the Cooperative Development Foundation. Nominations from the cooperative community are reviewed yearly by two committees composed of cooperative leaders. The committees make recommendations to the Board of Directors of National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA), who make the final decision.

The Cooperative League of the USA (now the NCBA) announced a Hall of Fame at its 29th biennial conference in San Francisco. The Cooperative Hall of Fame and Historical Society was established in 1974. By 1990, 64 people were inducted in the Hall. The Hall is located at NCBA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. As of 2012, there are 153 inductees, dubbed "heroes" by the Hall.

## Inductees

Cooperative Hall of Fame :

| Name | Birth–Death | Year | Area of achievement |
| - | - | - | - |
| Mary E. Arnold | (1876–1968) | 1976 | Arnold was a co-founder of Consumers Cooperative Services, an organizer of housing cooperatives and credit unions, and director of the National Cooperative Business Association from 1927 to 1938 and from 1945 to 1950. |
| Howard E. Babcock | (1889–1950) | 1976 | Babcock was an agricultural cooperative leader. He was chair of the American Institute of Cooperation, co-president of the National Cooperative Council, and served on the Board of the Central Bank for Cooperatives |
| Howard A. Cowden | | 1976 | Cowden founded Farmland Industries in 1929, which later became the Consumers Cooperative Association. |
| Edward Filene | (1860–1937) | 1976 | Filene was a businessman, social entrepreneur and philanthropist who built the Filene's department store chain. He was the main driver behind the push to pass legislation allowing for credit unions in the United States. |
| Harvey Hull | | 1976 | Hull helped to create United Cooperatives (now Universal Cooperatives) and promoted credit unions and rural electrification. |
| Abraham E. Kazan | (1889–1971) | 1976 | Kazan is considered the father of cooperative housing in the United States. He developed housing cooperatives in New York City and helped the cooperative grocery stores form a federation. |
| Murray D. Lincoln | | 1976 | Lincoln was President of the National Cooperative Business Association from 1941 to 1965 and served on the board of the International Cooperative Alliance. |
| John D. Miller | | 1976 | Miller was largely responsible for drafting the Capper–Volstead Act. He was president of the National Cooperative Council and helped to create the National Milk Producers Federation. |
| William I. Myers | | 1976 | Myers was a governor of the Farm Credit Administration and architect of the Farm Credit System. |
| Edwin Griswold Nourse | (1883–1974) | 1976 | Nourse helped to develop the American Institute of Cooperation. |
| A.J. Smaby | | 1976 | Smaby was general manager of Midland Cooperatives. He was director of the Fund for International Cooperative Development and the NCBA. |
| Jerry Voorhis | (1901–1984) | 1976 | Voorhis was a five term California Congressman who served as executive director of the National Cooperative Business Association from 1947 to 1965. He helped to found the National Association of Housing Cooperatives and the Organization of Cooperatives of America. |
| James Peter Warbasse | (1866–1957) | 1976 | Warbasse was a surgeon who founded the Cooperative League of America (now NCBA) in 1916. He was the organization's president until 1941. |
| Eugene R. Bowen | | 1978 | Bowen was an executive with the National Cooperative Business Association, helping to expand the organization. |
| George H. Dunlap | | 1978 | Dunlap was chairman and CEO of Nationwide from 1969 to 1972. He was a central committee member for the International Cooperative Alliance and served on the board of the National Cooperative Business Association. |
| Thomas F. Ellerbe, Sr. | | 1978 | Ellerbe founded the Cooperative Foundation in Minnesota and planned a cooperatively owned and run community at Circle Pines, Minnesota. |
| Hubert H. Humphrey | (1911–1978) | 1978 | Vice President Humphrey sponsored legislation establishing the National Consumers Cooperative Bank. He supported the development of farm, telephone and electric cooperatives and defended the Capper–Volstead Act. |
| Michael Shadid | (1882–1966) | 1978 | Shadid was a physician and the first president of the Cooperative Health Federation of America. He advocated for cooperative health care and preventive medicine. |
| Roy Bergengren | (1879–1955) | 1979 | With Edward Filene, Bergengren was the main actor behind the proliferation of credit unions across the United States. |
| D. W. Brooks | (1901–1999) | 1979 | Brooks organized the Cotton Producers Association and led the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. |
| Clyde T. Ellis | (1908–1980) | 1979 | Ellis was a leader of electric cooperatives and general manager of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. |
| Joseph G. Knapp | | 1979 | |
| Felix F. Rondeau | | 1979 | |
| Andrew Volstead | (1860–1947) | 1979 | Andrew Volstead was a member of the United States House of Representatives from Minnesota, 1903–1923, and a member of the Republican Party. He was the creator and proponent of the Capper–Volstead Act, sometimes referred to as the "farmer cooperative Magna Carta." |
| Robert Neptune | | 1980 | |
| M.W. Thatcher | | 1980 | |
| Leslie E. Woodcock | | 1980 | |
| Wallace J. Campbell | | 1981 | |
| Fernand St. Germain | (1928–2014) | 1981 | |
| W. Gifford Hoag | | 1982 | |
| Dorothy and George Jacobson | | 1982 | |
| John Brandt | | 1983 | |
| Jack R. Cluck | | 1983 | |
| Louise McCarren Herring | (1909–1987) | 1983 | Herring was a charter member of the Credit Union National Association and campaigned for a law establishing credit unions in Ohio. She was the first managing director of the Ohio Credit Union League and helped organize over 500 credit unions in the United States. She was the second woman to be inducted into the Cooperative Hall of Fame. |
| Robert D. Partridge | | 1983 | |
| Charles C. Teague | | 1983 | |
| Jacob M. Kaplan | | 1985 | |
| Owen Cooper | | 1985 | |
| Roman N. Eller | | 1985 | |
| Walter Harrison | | 1985 | |
| Charles Holman | | 1985 | |
| W.A. MacColl | | 1985 | |
| Manly Glenwood Mann | | 1985 | |
| Florence Parker | | 1985 | |
| Leo H. Shapiro | | 1985 | |
| E.G. Cort | | 1986 | |
| Ed Jaenke | | 1986 | |
| Aaron Sapiro | (1884–1959) | 1986 | Sapiro was a cooperative activist, lawyer and major leader of the farmers' movement during the 1920s. One of the many issues Sapiro spoke on was cooperative grain marketing and he was particularly active in California and Saskatoon in Saskatchewan. |
| Roger Willcox | | 1986 | |
| Luther H. Buchele | | 1987 | Buchele was the first Executive Director of the Inter-Cooperative Council at the University of Michigan. |
| Benjamin Franklin | (1706–1790) | 1987 | Founding Father and polymath, Franklin was |
| Maurice J. McKay | | 1987 | |
| Albert McKnight | | 1987 | |
| Emil A. Syftestad | | 1987 | |
| Joseph L. Hansknecht | | 1988 | |
| Wilfred E. Rumble | | 1988 | |
| Beryle E. Stanton | | 1988 | |
| William G. Wysor | | 1988 | |
| Barbara Deverick | | 1989 | |
| Ed Jones | (1912–1999) | 1989 | |
| Frank Sollars | | 1989 | |
| Frank W. Hussey | | 1990 | |
| R.C. Morgan | | 1990 | |
| Harold Ostroff | | 1990 | |
| Chalmers P. Wylie | (1920–1998) | 1990 | |
| Aubrey Davis | | 1991 | |
| Jack and Connie McLanahan | | 1991 | |
| Gonze Lee Twitty | | 1991 | |
| Robert Vanderbeek | | 1992 | |
| Samuel E. Bunker | | 1992 | |
| Ralph Hofstad | | 1992 | |
| Dwight Oberschlake | | 1992 | |
| C.E. Toland | | 1992 | Toland is the founder of Affiliated Foods Southwest. |
| Lloyd and Mary Anderson | | 1993 | Lloyd and Mary Anderson are the founders of REI. |
| Orville L. Freeman | (1918–2003) | 1993 | |
| Ken Holum | | 1993 | |
| Bob Bergland | (1928–) | 1994 | Bergland is a former Minnesota Congressman and Secretary of Agriculture under Jimmy Carter. He advocated for cooperatives as the vice president and general manager of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. |
| John E. Fisher | (1929–1998) | 1994 | |
| Gordon E. Lindquist | | 1994 | |
| Fred & Virginia Thornthwaite | | 1994 | |
| James L. Grahl | | 1995 | |
| Alvin W. Jordan | | 1995 | |
| David Smith | | 1995 | David Smith was president of president of Penn South Co-op and one of the original organizers of the Coordinating Council of Cooperatives. |
| Burgee O. Amdahl | | 1996 | |
| Glenn M. Anderson | | 1996 | Glenn Anderson is a former president of the Cooperative League of the USA (now NCBA). |
| Katherine Whiteside Taylor | | 1996 | Taylor founded the first cooperative preschool in California, Children's Community, in 1927. |
| A.A. Bailey | | 1997 | |
| Stanley Dreyer | | 1997 | |
| Woodrow Keown | | 1997 | |
| W. Malcom Harding | | 1997 | Harding was a leader in cooperative banking and helped to consolidate 11 Banks for Cooperatives into CoBank. |
| Henry Holloway | | 1998 | Henry Holloway served on the Maryland Farm Bureau Board and the Nationwide Insurance Enterprise Board. |
| R. C. Robertson | | 1998 | |
| Charles Stenholm | (1938–) | 1998 | Charles Stenholm is a Democratic Party politician from Texas, serving in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 to 2005. He was formerly President of the Texas Rural Electric Cooperative Association. |
| Richard H. Vilstrup | | 1998 | |
| Owen K. Hallberg | | 1999 | |
| John Earnest Johnson | | 1999 | |
| Vaughn O. Sinclair | | 1999 | |
| Dave and Erma Angevine | | 2000 | Consumer Federation of America |
| Edgar F. Callahan | (1929–2009) | 2000 | Callahan was Chair of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). |
| Richard H. Magnuson | | 2000 | |
| O. Glenn Webb | | 2000 | |
| John B. Gauci | | 2001 | |
| David A. Hamil | | 2001 | |
| Otis & Mary Lee Molz | | 2001 | |
| Francis L. Lair | | 2002 | |
| Ralph K. Morris | | 2002 | |
| C. William Swank | | 2002 | |
| Herb Wegner | | 2003 | |
| Doug Bereuter | (1939–) | 2003 | Doug Bereuter is a retired Republican politician from Nebraska, serving in the United States House of Representatives from 1979 until 2004. He introduced the Overseas Cooperative Development Act, which directed USAID to expand the use of cooperatives in its development programs. |
| Rod Nilsestuen | | 2003 | Nilsestuen was Wisconsin's Secretary of Agriculture and founder of Cooperative Development Services. |
| J. K. Smith | | 2003 | |
| Allen Thurgood-Connolly | | 2004 | |
| Ralph Paige | | 2004 | |
| Henry H. Schriver | | 2004 | |
| Charles and Eva Rappaport | | 2005 | The Rappaports were leaders in cooperative housing, both working for the Federation of 213s (later the Federation of New York Housing Cooperatives). |
| Robert I. Kabat | | 2005 | Kabat was director of the Management Services Department of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and developed educational programs for electric cooperatives. |
| Pete Crear | | 2005 | Crear helped establish the Credit Union National Association's relationship with the National Endowment for Financial Education. |
| Rebecca Allen | | 2006 | |
| David O. Miller | | 2006 | |
| Frank Morton Hunt, II | | 2006 | |
| Thomas L. Lyon | | 2006 | |
| David L. Chatfield | | 2007 | |
| Jean Jantzen | | 2007 | |
| John E. Gherty | | 2007 | |
| Charles B. Gill | | 2007 | |
| Gary Hanman | | 2008 | |
| Terry Lewis | | 2008 | Lewis is a former president of the National Association of Housing Cooperatives. |
| Douglas D. Sims | | 2008 | |
| Walden Swanson & Kate Sumberg | | 2008 | |
| Howard Brodsky and Alan Greenberg | | 2009 | Brodsky and Greenberg are founders of Carpet One. |
| James R. Jones | | 2009 | Jones is a leader in the student cooperative housing movement in North America. He has served as Executive Director of four student housing cooperatives as well as the North American Students of Cooperation. |
| Edward E. Slettom | | 2009 | |
| Melbah M. Smith | | 2009 | |
| Larry Blanchard | | 2010 | |
| Glenn English | (1940-) | 2010 | English is CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. |
| Werqu Mekasha | | 2010 | |
| David Thompson | | 2010 | Thompson is the author of Weavers of Dreams: The Founding of the Modern Co-operative Movement. |
| Noel Estenson | | 2011 | Estenson was CEO of CHS Inc. until 2000, overseeing the merger of Cenex and Harvest States Cooperatives. |
| Gloria & Stanley Kuehn | | 2011 | |
| Daniel A. Mica | (1944-) | 2011 | Mica was President and CEO of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) from 1996 to 2010. |
| Shirley Sherrod | | 2011 | Shirley Sherrod is the former Georgia State Director of Rural Development for the United States Department of Agriculture. She co-founded New Communities, a 6000-acre cooperative farm and was the Georgia State Director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives. |
| Charles Snyder | | 2012 | Snyder is President and CEO of the National Cooperative Bank. |
| Bill Gessner | | 2012 | |
| William Davisson | | 2012 | Davisson was CEO of the agricultural supply cooperative Growmark from 1998 to 2010. |
| Michael Cook | | 2012 | Cook is a professor of Cooperative Leadership and Executive Director of The Graduate Institute of Cooperative Leadership (GICL), University of Missouri-Columbia. |
| Joy Cousminer | | 2013 | Joy Cousminer is the founding president and CEO of Bethex Federal Credit Union. |
| Steven L. Dawson | | 2013 | Steven L. Dawson is the founder of the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI). |
| Rebecca Dunn | | 2013 | Rebecca Dunn is the executive director of the Cooperative Fund of New England. |
| Leland Ruth | | 2013 | Leland "Lee" Ruth is president of the Agricultural Council of California. |
| Martin J. Lowry | | 2014 | Martin Lowry is a rural utilities leader. |
| Harriet May | | 2014 | Harriet May is a credit union leader. |
| Papa Sene | | 2014 | Papa M.D. Sene is an international development leader. |
| Barry Silver | | 2014 | Barry Silver is a cooperative financer and the Executive Vice President of National Cooperative Bank. |
| Ann Hoyt | | 2015 | Ann Hoyt, Ph.D. is a professor emeritus at University of Wisconsin-Madison. |
| William J. Nelson | | 2015 | Agriculture and Education |
| Daniel T. Kelley | | 2015 | Agriculture |
| Judy Ziewacz | | 2015 | Judy Ziewacz is President and CEO of the National Cooperative Business Association/Cooperative League of the United States (NCBA/CLUSA) |
| Dennis Bolling | | 2016 | Agriculture. Former president and CEO of United Producers, Inc. |
| Jessica Gordon Nembhard | | 2016 | Education. Jessica Gordon Nembhard is Professor of Community Justice and Social Economic Development in the Department of Africana Studies at John Jay College, of the City University of New York (CUNY). She is the author of Collective Courage: A History of African American Cooperative Economic Thought and Practice. |
| Dennis Johnson | | 2016 | Finance. Dennis Johnson is the former president and CEO of the Saint Paul Community Bank for Cooperatives. |
