January 07, 2022

Obituary: Karen Ferguson, Founder of the Pension Rights Center

Karen Ferguson, the founder of the Pension Rights Center, a nonprofit organization that protects the interests of workers and retirees and helps promote legislation on their behalf, died on December 23 at her home in Washington, DC.

Ms. Ferguson successfully lobbied Congress for numerous pension reforms over more than four decades. She also personally handled thousands of individual claims from people who had worked throughout their adult lives but then had trouble receiving their full pension benefits.

She was instrumental in the creation and passage of the Butch Lewis Act, which was a high priority for many Alliance members. That measure, signed into law last year by President Biden, restored the pensions of more than one million people whose retirement benefits had been severely reduced.

“Karen aligned the Pension Rights Center with the Alliance. In addition to working with the Alliance on the Butch Lewis Act and other legislation, she spoke at the Alliance’s Pension Seminars and generously lent her expertise whenever she was asked,” said Robert Roach, Jr., President of the Alliance. “She took every opportunity to help people with pensions get the money they earned, and, on a more personal note, was a wonderful friend.”