Edward Filene (1860-1937). There may be no better-known American credit union pioneer than Edward Filene, whose lifelong devotion to social issues and justice led him to commit significant time and money to help found credit unions. Filene expanded an apparel store founded by his father, a German immigrant, into a thriving Department store in Boston and later a chain of stores.
Filene was an innovator on numerous fronts, including retailing, where he championed scientific methods to boost workplace efficiency, and improving the quality of work for employees, including a minimum wage, vacations and profit-sharing.
During world travels in 1907, Filene was exposed to rural cooperative banks in India, and returned to the U.S. an advocate of such "credit unions."
After successfully helping get the Credit Union Act passed in Massachusetts, Filene initially created the National Association of Peoples Banks, but the organization struggled until 1921, when he hired Roy Bergengren and pledged $1-million to help organize credit unions across the country (including his own workers). Bergengren and Filene co-founded the Credit Union National Extension Bureau, which existed for 14 years before being reorganized as the CUNA. During its life CUNEB helped create Credit Union Acts in 26 states, and helped drive passage of the Federal Credit Union Act in 1934.
In 1934, Filene was recognized by CUNA as the "Raiffeisen of America" for his role. CUNA further named Filene to the office of "Founder of this Association" for life, after which it abolished the office. Today, the primary research arm of credit unions, the Filene Research Institute, is named after the pioneer.
