OBITUARY

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 2, 28 September 1937, Page 9

OBITUARY

Mr. Edward A. Filene

Paris, September 26.

The death hats occurred of the American business man and philanthropist Mr. Edward A. Filene, as a result of pneumonia contracted on a European tour.

Mr. Edward Filene, merchant and president of William Filene’s Sons Co., Boston, was born at Salem, Massachusetts, and received a high school education. He became planner and organiser for the Boston Chamber of Commerce and ol the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the International Chamber of Commerce, and was a pioneer in applying scientific methods and efficient organisation to retail distribution. He was also active in the promotion of better organisation of production and distribution in Europe "in order to lower costs, eliminate waste, increase wages and profits, and raise the general standard of living.” He was founder and president of the Twentieth Century Fund which was organised to study steps forward in the social and economic life of the people. He also organised the Credit Union Movement in the United States and founded the Credit Union National Extension Bureau. He was first president of the national Credit Union Association, and was founder and president of the Consumer Distribution Corporation, the central organisation of a national league of department stores. He was formerly chairman of the Boston Metropolitan Planning Commission, organiser of the Public Franchise League, of Boston, chairman of the War Shipping Committee, member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Committee lor Financing the War, chairman of the League to Enforce Peace, and organiser and financier of peace awards in various countries. He was a member of many bodies, and had been decorated by Franc* 1 , Italy, Czechoslovakia, and Austria. He wrote a number of books, notably "The Way Out'’ (1924), works on merchandising and stock, and “Successful Living in this Machine Age” (1931), which was translated into French, German, Italian, and Dutch.