NASW Foundation National Programs

NASW Social Work Pioneers^®

Rudolph T. Danstedt (1905 - 1994)

Rudolph Danstedt was the first legislative director of NASW from 1956 until 1969. He then became the assistant to the president of the National Council of Senior Citizens until 1981, when he retired.

Mr. Danstedt was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. He graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He received a master’s degree in physics and mathematics from what now is Case Western Reserve University and a master’s degree in social work from Columbia University. Before moving to the Washington, DC area in 1956, he was a college physics instructor in Cleveland, and he held administrative jobs in social welfare in New York, Pittsburgh, and St. Louis.

Mr. Danstedt was a member of the American Public Welfare Association, the National Conference on Social Welfare, NASW, and the United Way of America.

He published articles in social welfare periodicals and taught at graduate schools of the University of Pittsburgh, Washington University, St. Louis, Catholic University, Howard University, and the University of Maryland.

Mr. Danstedt died in 1994.

Social Work Pioneer - 1993