Susanna Orelli-Rinderknecht

Orelli-Rinderknecht was born on 27 December 1845 in Oberstrass, Zurich, Switzerland to a wealthy farming family.^[1] Her parents were Heinrich Rinderknecht, a farmer and mayor of Zurich,^[2] and Susanna Rinderknecht (née Stadelmann). She studied home economics.^[1]

Orelli-Rinderknecht married the mathematics professor Johannes Orelli in 1881. She was widowed in 1885.^[1]

After her husband's death, Orelli-Rinderknecht joined the Blue Cross animal welfare charity and participated in poor relief.^[1]

In 1894, Orelli-Rinderknecht was the founder of the Zurich Women's Association for Temperance and Public Welfare (now German: ZFV-Unternehmungen) with 15 other middle-class women, which aimed to combat alcoholism.^[3] She was not elected to the board.^[4] Two years later she became chairwoman of the newly created works commission of the association.^[4] She served in this post until 1919.^[3]

Orelli-Rinderknecht was awarded a doctor honoris causa from the Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich (UZH, German: Universität Zürich) in "recognition of her contributions to public health and economics."^[3][5][6]

Orelli-Rinderknecht died on 12 January 1939 in Zurich, Switzerland, aged 93.^[1]

From 1945, Orelli-Rinderknecht was the first woman to appear on a Swiss postage stamp.^[7] A street in Zurich, Orellistrasse, was named in her honour.