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 Image Birth–Death YearArea of achievement (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. (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 1976 Cowden founded Farmland Industries in 1929, which later became the Consumers Cooperative Association. (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. 1976 Hull helped to create United Cooperatives (now Universal Cooperatives) and promoted credit unions and rural electrification. (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. 1976 Lincoln was President of the National Cooperative Business Association from 1941 to 1965 and served on the board of the International Cooperative Alliance. 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. 1976 Myers was a governor of the Farm Credit Administration and architect of the Farm Credit System. (1883–1974) 1976 Nourse helped to develop the American Institute of Cooperation. 1976 Smaby was general manager of Midland Cooperatives. He was director of the Fund for International Cooperative Development and the NCBA. (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. (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. 1978 Bowen was an executive with the National Cooperative Business Association, helping to expand the organization. 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. 1978 Ellerbe founded the Cooperative Foundation in Minnesota and planned a cooperatively owned and run community at Circle Pines, Minnesota. (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. (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. (1879–1955) 1979 With Edward Filene, Bergengren was the main actor behind the proliferation of credit unions across the United States. (1901–1999) 1979 Brooks organized the Cotton Producers Association and led the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives. (1908–1980) 1979 Ellis was a leader of electric cooperatives and general manager of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. 1979 1979 (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." 1980 1980 1980 1981 (1928–2014) 1981 1982 Dorothy and George Jacobson 1982 1983 1983 (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. 1983 1983 1985 1985 1985 1985 1985 1985 1985 1985 1985 1986 1986 (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. 1986 1987 Buchele was the first executive director of the Inter-Cooperative Council at the University of Michigan. (1706–1790) 1987 Founding Father and polymath, Franklin was 1987 1987 1987 1988 1988 1988 1988 1989 (1912–1999) 1989 1989 1990 1990 1990 (1920–1998) 1990 1991 Jack and Connie McLanahan 1991 1991 1992 1992 1992 1992 1992 Toland is the founder of Affiliated Foods Southwest. 1993 Lloyd and Mary Anderson are the founders of REI. (1918–2003) 1993 1993 (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. (1929–1998) 1994 1994 1994 1995 1995 1995 David Smith was president of president of Penn South Co-op and one of the original organizers of the Coordinating Council of Cooperatives. 1996 1996 Glenn Anderson is a former president of the Cooperative League of the USA (now NCBA). 1996 Taylor founded the first cooperative preschool in California, Children's Community, in 1927. 1997 1997 1997 1997 Harding was a leader in cooperative banking and helped to consolidate 11 Banks for Cooperatives into CoBank. 1998 Henry Holloway served on the Maryland Farm Bureau Board and the Nationwide Insurance Enterprise Board. 1998 (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. 1998 1999 1999 1999 2000 Consumer Federation of America (1929–2009) 2000 Callahan was Chair of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). 2000 2000 2001 2001 2001 2002 2002 2002 2003 (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. 2003 Nilsestuen was Wisconsin's Secretary of Agriculture and founder of Cooperative Development Services. 2003 2004 2004 2004 2005 The Rappaports were leaders in cooperative housing, both working for the Federation of 213s (later the Federation of New York Housing Cooperatives). 2005 Kabat was director of the Management Services Department of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and developed educational programs for electric cooperatives. 2005 Crear helped establish the Credit Union National Association's relationship with the National Endowment for Financial Education. 2006 2006 2006 2006 2007 2007 2007 2007 2008 2008 Lewis is a former president of the National Association of Housing Cooperatives. 2008 & 2008 and 2009 Brodsky and Greenberg are founders of Carpet One. 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. 2009 2009 2010 (1940-) 2010 English is CEO of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. 2010 2010 Thompson is the author of Weavers of Dreams: The Founding of the Modern Co-operative Movement. 2011 Estenson was CEO of CHS Inc. until 2000, overseeing the merger of Cenex and Harvest States Cooperatives. 2011 (1944-) 2011 Mica was president and CEO of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) from 1996 to 2010. 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. 2012 Snyder is president and CEO of the National Cooperative Bank. 2012 2012 Davisson was CEO of the agricultural supply cooperative Growmark from 1998 to 2010. 2012 Cook is a professor of Cooperative Leadership and executive director of The Graduate Institute of Cooperative Leadership (GICL), University of Missouri-Columbia. 2013 Joy Cousminer is the founding president and CEO of Bethex Federal Credit Union. 2013 Steven L. Dawson is the founder of the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI). 2013 Rebecca Dunn is the executive director of the Cooperative Fund of New England. 2013 Leland "Lee" Ruth is president of the Agricultural Council of California. 2014 Martin Lowry is a rural utilities leader. 2014 Harriet May is a credit union leader. 2014 Papa M.D. Sene is an international development leader. 2014 Barry Silver is a cooperative financer and the Executive Vice President of National Cooperative Bank. 2015 Ann Hoyt, Ph.D. is a professor emeritus at University of Wisconsin-Madison. 2015 Agriculture and Education 2015 Agriculture 2015 Judy Ziewacz is president and CEO of the National Cooperative Business Association/Cooperative League of the United States (NCBA/CLUSA) 2016 Agriculture. Former president and CEO of United Producers, Inc. 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. 2016 Finance. Dennis Johnson is the former president and CEO of the Saint Paul Community Bank for Cooperatives. 2017 Rural Utilities/Education. Richard Larochelle, retired Senior Vice President, National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation.https://www.heroes.coop/post/richard-larochelle National Cooperative Business Association retrieved 24 November 2025
See also Credit unions in the United States History of the cooperative movement
References
External links Cooperative Hall of Fame website
Videos of Hall of Fame speeches