Michael "Mike" Pertschuk

1933 - 2022

MICHAEL PERTSCHUK
JANUARY 12, 1933 - NOVEMBER 16, 2022
Michael "Mike" Pertschuk passed away peacefully November 16th in Santa Fe, age 89. Mike had a great talent for appreciating and defending both people and political causes. His sweetness and caring delighted family and friends, yet politically he was tenacious, fiercely determined, fighting for consumers and public health and safety. Cigarette manufacturer Phillip Morris once named him their "Number One Enemy".
Mike was born January 12, 1933, in London. With the outbreak of war in Europe, his family moved to New York City when he was four. He earned his B.A. at Yale in 1954; then served two years in the army, before receiving his law degree from Yale in 1959.
After clerking for Hon. Gus J. Solomon, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon, he came to Washington as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Maurine Neuberger (D-OR). He found himself, following the 1964 release of the Surgeon General's Report on Smoking and Health, as the leading Senate staffer handling tobacco control issues. It was in this role that he soon caught the eye of Senator Warren G. Magnuson, Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and joined the committee staff; subsequently becoming Chief Counsel from 1969; and Staff Director and Chief Counsel until his departure from the Committee in 1977.
He was often called, by both his allies and adversaries alike, "the 101st Senator", in recognition of his significant role in so many major legislative accomplishments in the areas of consumer protection, child safety, broadcast advertising and automobile and product safety.
During his time leading the Commerce Committee staff, some of the most significant consumer and environmental protection measures of the 20th century were prepared by the staff under his direction, including the Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act, Recreational Boat Safety Act, Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act, Federal Railroad Safety Act, Consumer Product Safety Act, Magnuson- Moss Warranty Act, Toxic Substances Control Act (TOSCA), and the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Recognizing Mike's commitment, President Carter named him Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission in 1977, where he continued to serve as an FTC commissioner from 1981 to 1984. Back in private life in 1984, he co-founded, and co-directed for many years, the Advocacy Institute, training social justice advocates in the US and emerging democracies in the skills of advocacy. Mike was a prolific writer and published many magazine articles, four advocacy guides combatting the tobacco industry, and seven books, the last of which, When the Senate Worked for Us: The Invisible Role of Staffers in Countering Corporate Lobbies was published by Vanderbilt University Press in 2017.
In 2003, he and his wife, Anna, left Washington D.C. to settle in Santa Fe. There he discovered opportunities to continue his advocacy training with New Mexico's young leaders. He made new friendships, studied James Joyce, diligently practiced Tai Chi, went dancing on the Plaza, while continuing to write and publish, and always, always tracking the pulse of politics.
To family and friends, he is honored and remembered for his unabashed warmth, finding beauty at the heart of things. He lit a blessed fire of service and love that will live on after him.
He is survived by his wife Anna Sofaer, sons Mark Pertschuk (Karen Pertschuk) and Daniel Sofaer, his daughter Amy Pertschuk (Chris Krueger), and three grandchildren; Jack Pertschuk, and Nick and Mia Krueger. There will be a private memorial service at a later date.