Erickson, Reed

By way of the Erickson Educational Foundation (EEF), Reed Erickson (1917–1992) directly or indirectly supported almost all public education, research, peer support, and activism about trans people during the years the EEF was active in that area (1964–1976). He also made major contributions to the early homophile organization ONE Inc. and to “New Age” spiritual groups.

Reed Erickson grew up in Philadelphia in a white middle-class family. After secretarial training and a number of short-term jobs, Erickson moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to work in the family lead smelting business there and, in 1946, earned the first mechanical engineering degree awarded to a woman at Louisiana State University. Unable to get work as a woman engineer, Erickson passed the next 10 years traveling and doing a ...