- Virginia Knauer
Infobox Person
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name = Virginia Harrington Knauer
birth_date =March 28 ,1915 (age 93)
birth_place =Philadelphia ,Pennsylvania ,United States
residence =
death_date =
death_place =Virginia Harrington Knauer (née Wright) (b.
March 28 1915 ) is a former U.S. politician. She was the first woman elected to the Philadelphia City Council, and chief consumer advisor toPennsylvania GovernorRaymond P. Shafer , then to PresidentsRichard Nixon (she was the first to hold the post of U.S. Consumer Advocate) andGerald Ford (1969-1977) and later toRonald Reagan (1981-1983). She is also the mentor, and a good friend ofNorth Carolina Senior Senator Elizabeth Dole ..She was born and grew up in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , where her father was a professor of accounting atTemple University . She was educated at thePhiladelphia High School for Girls ,Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and theUniversity of Pennsylvania (graduated 1937); she also attended theRoyal Academy of Fine Arts inFlorence, Italy . Her late husband, Wilhelm F. Knauer, a lawyer, served as Deputy Attorney of Pennsylvania. They had one son, Judge Wilhelm F. Knauer, Jr. (deceased), one daughter, Valerie Knauer Burden, and three granddaughters, Virginia Burden, Francis Burden, and Nancy J. Knauer.External links
* [http://afgw.libraries.psu.edu/profiles/knauer.html Brief bio at Penn State Libraries]
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