(1891-1974)
Inducted:1985
Florence Parker became the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics first full-time cooperative specialist in 1946, where she developed a reporting system for cooperative statistics. Parker is the author of The First 125 Years: A History of Distributive and Service Cooperation, 1829-1954, which is a volume on the history of cooperation in the U.S. She was an organizer and charter member of the Department of Labor Credit Union, president and director of the Rochdale Cooperative in Washington, DC, and a director of the National Cooperative Business Association. She attended every Cooperative League Congress from 1920 to 1956, and wrote two books based on her observations at these Congresses. In her retirement, she organized a cooperative memorial association and coordinated a state federation of memorial societies. She continued her active concern for consumer cooperatives and cooperative development until her death at the age of 82.