Mimi Levin Lieber, a pioneer in the use of focus groups to shape product development and marketing at some of the country’s largest companies, and later a stalwart advocate for early childhood literacy in New York, died on Oct. 16 in Manhattan. She was 93.

She would gather a few randomly selected people around a table and talk to them about their choices in personal hygiene, underwear or dating preferences. She would then share these insights with corporate clients, like Hanes and General Mills. For 30 years, she provided a steady guide to companies trying to stay ahead of the rapidly shifting American consumer.

In 1981, Jerrold Nadler, then a member of the New York State Assembly (and now a U.S. representative) nominated her to the New York Board of Regents. She spent much of her time on the board pushing for more funding for low-income schools. She left the board in 1996 and founded Literacy Inc., a nonprofit that promotes reading in lower-income neighborhoods in New York. Today the group, known as LINC, works with dozens of schools and public libraries across the city.