Former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan passed away Monday at 100 years old, following a battle with Parkinson’s disease. He served as the 13th chair of the nation’s central bank and an advisor to six presidents.
Greenspan earned his baccalaureate and graduate degrees in economics from New York University and was a close friend of the libertarian author Ayn Rand beginning in the 1950s until her death in 1982.
He began his career in politics as an economic advisor to Richard Nixon’s 1968 presidential campaign and was nominated to serve as the chair of the Council of Economic Advisers just before the president’s resignation in 1974. He served under Gerald Ford as chair and subsequently served on a Reagan-era commission to reform Social Security.
President Ronald Reagan nominated Greenspan to chair the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors in 1987 after Paul Volcker, who stepped down following his largely successful fight with inflation. Greenspan began the process of lowering interest rates from Volcker’s record highs, a process that some economic analysts allege helped to inflate the housing bubble that collapsed after his exit from the Fed.
Greenspan is survived by his wife Andrea Mitchell, NBC News’ chief Washington correspondent and chief foreign affairs correspondent.
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