15 Facts About Roy Bergengren

Roy F Bergengren was an American attorney and pioneer of the United States credit union movement.

Roy Bergengren was trained as an attorney and in 1914 was elected the Commissioner of Finance in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Roy Bergengren participated in World War I and was largely unsatisfied with his poverty law practice prior to meeting Edward Filene, a successful Massachusetts businessman and champion of credit unions.

In 1920, Roy Bergengren was hired to manage the Massachusetts Credit Union Association where he promoted the development of credit unions.

Together with Filene, Roy Bergengren founded the Credit Union National Extension Bureau in 1921 to work towards establishing credit union laws in all states and at the federal level.

The Extension Bureau, of which Roy Bergengren was the executive secretary, had four goals:.

In June 1924, the Extension Bureau began publishing The Bridge, a precursor to Credit Union Magazine of which Roy Bergengren was the editor.

Roy Bergengren travelled the country and attended the meetings of credit union organizers.

Roy Bergengren was a gifted orator and gave passionate speeches.

When Roy Bergengren started what he referred to as his "crusade," there were only 199 credit unions in the US By 1925,15 states had passed credit union laws and 419 credit unions were serving 108,000 members.

Roy Bergengren strongly opposed this position, and his view prevailed this time.

Roy Bergengren was named managing director of the newly formed CUNA and by 1937,6400 credit unions with 1.5 million members were active in 45 states.

Roy Bergengren was forced to resign from CUNA in 1945 after a bitter internal struggle, and subsequently moved to Vermont, where he directed that state's League until his death.

Roy Bergengren was especially interested in international credit unions and, one year before his death, Bergengren convinced CUNA directors to establish a world extension department.

Roy Bergengren was inducted to the Cooperative Hall of Fame in 1979.