Warne, Colston

Colston Warne was an economics professor and consumer advocate, who served on multiple national consumer advisory boards that served to advise several U.S. presidential administrations. Warne earned his B.A. degree from Cornell University in 1920, his M.A. degree from Cornell in 1922, and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1925. From 1925 to 1926, Warne was an Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Denver, after which he was an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh from 1926 to 1930, while simultaneously serving as a member of the Board of Directors for Cooperative League for the USA until 1929. From 1930 to 1942, Warne was a professor of economics at Amherst College, though he often spent his summers working as a professor at Bryn Mawr College’s summer school for industrial workers. Warne’s work as a consumer advocate began in 1928 when he helped form the group Consumers Research and continued when he served from 1934 to 1936 as President of People’s Lobby in Washington, D.C. Warne was the president of the Consumers Union from 1936 to 1979, while continuing to work as a professor at Amherst College from 1942 to 1970. Warne’s other efforts in consumer advocacy included serving as a member of the Board of Directors for the National Association of Consumers from 1947 to 1956, serving as an advisor to the President of the United States from 1947 to 1951, and organizing the first Council of Consumer Information in 1953 (later became the American Council on Consumer Interests). Warne was also instrumental in having the Consumers Union removed from the House Un-American Activities Committee’s list of “subverse organizations” in 1954. Warne’s work in consumer advocacy continued into the 1960s when he helped form the International Organization of Consumers Union in 1960 and served as a member of the Consumer Advisory Council to the President from 1962 to 1965. Warne retired from teaching in 1970 and died in 1987.

Written in December 2020 by Jarrod Kuckelman.

Creator Source: Local Authority File