LLLI co-Founder
Marian Tompson, one of the Founders of La Leche League International, was its President for 24 years. Wife of the late Clement Tompson, she is the mother of seven children, grandmother of 17 and great grandmother of fourteen.
Marian was the first editor of the LLL Newsletter, now Breastfeeding Today. She started the library of breastfeeding research that became the Center for Breastfeeding Information. She initiated breastfeeding seminars for physicians, which were held annually by LLLI from 1973 through 2008 and were eventually accredited for continuing education credits by all the major medical organizations.
In 2001 Marian founded AnotherLook, a not for profit organization dedicated to gathering information, raising critical questions and stimulating needed research about breastfeeding in the context of HIV/AIDS. With their mission achieved and the needed research done, AnotherLook closed its doors in 2011. HIV+ mothers who previously were told not to breastfeed are now encouraged to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months and to continue breastfeeding as additional foods are added.
Marian serves on the International Advisory Council for WABA (the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action and the LLLI Board of Directors and continues to speak at Conferences around the world. Marian was the first Living Treasure named by Mothering Magazine and in 1999 received the Ethical Humanist Award from the New York Society for Ethical Culture.
Her memoir, Passionate Journey: My Unexpected Life, was published by Hale Publishing in 2011.
