Ardath Rodale

Sad to learn of the passing of Ardath Rodale, most recently "Chief Inspiration Officer" at Rodale Press. Although I never met her, her husband, Bob, who was killed in an accident while traveling in Russia in 1990, was on the Calvert Social Investment Fund Advisory Council with us (Jeff Stamps and me); her son, David, who died in 1985 of AIDS-related pneumonia, was one of our co-founders ("our" here meaning Lisa Kimball et al) of the Electronic Networking Association; and her daughter, Heather, became a friend. Rodale Press, one of the last family owned publishing enterprises in the U.S., is responsible for so many good ideas--books, magazines, initiatives. [Update: Rodale Press was sold to Hearst Crown Company in 2017; the family legacy continues through Rodale Institute; a brief history of what happened to the company can be found here.] Ardie was an innovator in business thinking for decades, served as chair and CEO of the company, and was a fearless AIDS educator before people really understood the disease. Thinking of the whole family today.