Here's a look at the life of consumer advocate and former candidate for president Ralph Nader.

Personal: Birth date: February 27, 1934

Birth place: Winsted, Connecticut

Birth name: Ralph Nader

Father: Nathra Nader

Mother: Rose (Bouziane) Nader

Education: Princeton University, A.B., 1955, Harvard Law School, L.L.B., 1958

Military: U.S. Army, 1959

Other Facts: Writer and attorney.

Green Party presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000, Independent candidate in 2004 and 2008.

Speaks Arabic, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian.

Son of Lebanese immigrants.

Timeline: Early 1960s - Practices law in Hartford, Connecticut.

1961-1963 - Lectures at Hartford University.

1964 - Is hired by Assistant Secretary of Labor Daniel Patrick Moynihan as a consultant on auto safety.

1965 - Publishes "Unsafe at Any Speed," an indictment of the auto industry in Detroit. Nader accuses car makers of putting style ahead of safety in the design of their cars. He focuses specifically on the Chevrolet Corvair.

February 10, 1966 - Testifies before a Senate subcommittee on auto safety.

March 1966 - James Roche, president of General Motors, apologizes in front of the Senate for hiring private investigators to spy on Nader's private life.

September 9, 1966 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act into law.

1967 - Lobbies Congress to pass the Wholesome Meat Act, increasing inspections of slaughterhouses and meat processing plants.

1967-1968 - Lectures at Princeton University.

1969 - Helps establish the Center for Responsive Law, a non-profit studying consumer issues.

1970 - Settles a harassment lawsuit against GM for $425,000.

December 29, 1970 - Congress establishes the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which had been strongly lobbied for by Nader.

1971 - Founds Public Citizen Inc., a consumer lobbying group.