The Lincoln Heights Chamber of Commerce posthumously honored Ethel Percy Andrus Aug. 11 at Town & Gown.

Andrus' career accomplishments included founding the National Retired Teacher's Association (NRTA) and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).

She is the namesake of the USC Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center, the research and services component of the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.

The award, presented at the chamber's 90th anniversary celebration, was accepted by Jorge Lambrinos, director of the Roybal Institute for Applied Gerontology at USC.

“Dr. Andrus was a unique individual who motivated people with her zeal and enthusiasm,” Lambrinos said. “Her accomplishments were not for her own good, but for the benefit of others.”

Andrus dedicated her career to education and the plight of retired people across America. In 1916, at the age of 32, she was named principal of Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, becoming the first woman in California to lead a secondary school. Soon after her arrival, she began a successful campaign to rename the community Lincoln Heights.

During her 28 years at the school, she influenced generations of students from the Los Angeles neighborhood as an innovative administrator, particularly in the areas of industrial and adult education. She also earned a Ph.D. from the USC Rossier School of Education in 1930 and became an expert in urban education.

Due to the meager pensions that retired educators struggled to live on at the time, she founded the NRTA in 1947. The organization used group strength to provide low-cost insurance programs for retired teachers. In 1956, it became the first health insurance program for educators over the age of 65.

Two years later after thousands of other non-teachers contacted her about receiving benefits, Andrus co-founded AARP along with her close friend Leonard Davis. She served as president and led the organization to rapid growth by creating an array of programs to help elder Americans with many aspects of their lives, including second careers, health insurance, travel and more.

“Dr. Andrus was not only a visionary for the field of gerontology, she was truly a pioneering woman and an American legend,” said Elizabeth Zelinski, dean of the Andrus Center. “It is an honor that her legacy continues here at USC.”