TV Pitchwoman, Consumer Advocate Betty Furness Dies

HARTSDALE, N.Y. - Betty Furness, who gained fame selling refrigerators on television and went on to become a government consumer advocate and pioneer TV consumer reporter, died of cancer yesterday. She was 78.

Ms. Furness, who was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 1990, died at Sloan-Kettering Memorial Hospital, where she had been undergoing treatment, said her husband, Leslie Midgley.

Ms. Furness was a regular contributor to the NBC News program "Today" from 1976 to 1992.

"She pioneered consumer TV-news reporting, and she pursued it with intelligence, inquisitiveness and irrepressibility," consumer advocate Ralph Nader said when she left NBC.

President Lyndon Johnson appointed her his special assistant for consumer affairs in 1967 despite skepticism from consumer groups who feared her association with Westinghouse would make her pro-industry.

But she won over critics with her energetic advocacy.

Ms. Furness became famous in the 1950s pitching Westinghouse appliances on live television spots. Her tag line was: "You can be sure if it's Westinghouse."