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One of the county’s leading social critics and its most influential consumer advocate has been invited to speak next month at Presbyterian College.

Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader will kick off the college’s Russell Lecture Series on Media, Technology, and Society at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, in Belk Auditorium. The event is free of charge and open to the public.

Named by The Atlantic as one of the 100 most influential figures in American history and by Time and Life magazines as one of the 100 most influential Americans of the 20^th century, Nader’s well-documented criticism of government and industry has had widespread effect on public awareness and bureaucracy.

For more than four decades, he has exposed problems and organized millions of people into more than 100 public interest groups for issues such as safe cars, healthy food, clean air and water, and safe work environments.

His landmark 1965 book Unsafe at Any Speed lambasted the auto industry for producing unsafe vehicles and led to congressional hearings and a series of automobile safety laws, including the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act.  He is also credited for other major federal consumer protection laws, including the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Meat and Poultry Inspection Rules, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Freedom of Information Act. He also was instrumental in the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration.

He ran as an independent candidate for president in 2004 and 2008 and as a Green Party candidate in 1996 and 2000.