Esther E. Peterson, a Provo native and consumer-rights advocate who served in three presidential administrations, died at her Washington, D.C., home Saturday. She was 91.
During her career, she helped established such regulations as truth-in-advertising, truth-in-packaging, meat inspections and unit pricing. She also fought for women's rights and was a key player in the labor movement.Mrs. Peterson served on the President's Commission on the Status of Women in the Kennedy administration. Kennedy also appointed her as assistant secretary for labor standards at the Labor Department in 1961. The Washington Post called her the highest-ranking women in the Federal Government at the time.
"I was the first woman lobbyist for labor, and they didn't know quite what to do with me," she said in a 1990 interview. "Then someone said, `Assign her to John F. Kennedy; he won't amount to very much.' "
The Brigham Young University graduate later served as special assistant to the president on consumer affairs in the Johnson administration. She was the first to hold the post. She returned to the White House during the Carter administration as the chair of the Consumer Affairs Council.
Mrs. Peterson is one of about 100 women who have been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame located in Seneca Falls, N.Y., where the first Women's Rights Convention was held.
She received several other awards for her service, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor a civilian can receive.
Mrs. Peterson earned a master's degree from Columbia University, where she met her husband Oliver Peterson. The couple raised four children. Mrs. Peterson leaves behind three sons, a daughter and 12 grandchildren. Mr. Peterson passed away in 1979.
Mrs. Peterson's funeral arrangements have not been finalized.