Telecom and Consumer Pioneer Mary Gardner Jones Dies; Founded Alliance for Public Technology

WASHINGTON, January 5, 2010 – Mary Gardiner Jones, the first female Federal Trade Commissioner and co-founder of the Alliance for Public Technology, died on December 23, 2009, APT announced Tuesday.

“Mary Gardiner Jones not only tore down walls that kept women out of positions of power and influence – she smashed them to smithereens.” That was how former Labor Secretary Robert Reich described the career of Gardiner Jones. She advocated for increased consumer protections and women’s rights.

Gardiner Jones graduated from Wellesley College and went to work for the Office of Strategic Services soon thereafter. She continued working in government until 1973 when she left her position as FTC Commissioner to teach at the University of Illinois.

Throughout the rest of her life, Gardiner Jones continued to advocate for greater individual protections. In 1989, Ms. Gardiner Jones co-founded the Alliance for Public Technology; a group intended to promote the deployment of advanced telecommunications infrastructure in order to foster improved standards of living.

Gardiner Jones had a lifelong interest in race relations and endowed the Lewis scholarship at Howard University for students who work toward improving race relations.