On A Pale Horse

I've had to take about five or six different economics classes during the course of my academic career. For some reason all the econ teachers were kinda freaky, one was a surfer dude, one reminded me of Dave Foley (looks & humor), still another was really uptight; he pursed his lips when someone didn't answer a question quite the way it should have been. The one class that I remember the best was way (way, waaaaayyyyy) back in high school. The teacher, Mr.D, didn't seem all that interested in teaching the class so we mostly watched videos. He had this one series, purchased from PBS (I'm sure he got a really cool tote bag for it too) called "Economics U$A". Richard T. Gill served as an analyst for the program. Econ was one of those required courses at my high school so Dick Gill became a joke to all of us seniors; something about his style was a bit different. I didn't realize how different though until I started researching this obit. After spending twenty two years as a Professor at Harvard he left his position he launched his second career as an opera singer and then returned to television to write and appear in the 28 episodes of this series. But yet again I'm off the subject. This isn't about Richard Gill this is about a Milton Friedman.

Milton Friedman was born in 1912 to immigrant parents in New York City. When he was a year old the family moved to a small town in New Jersey about 20 miles out of NYC. He graduated high school in 1928, at the age of 16 and then attended Rutgers University on scholarship graduating in 1932 during the Great Depression. After spending some additional time at the University of Chicago and Columbia he went on to work in various positions conducting research on economic trends, consumer budget and professional income. During the course of his career he worked for the US Treasury Department, academic positions and as economic adviser during Barry Goldwater's and Richard Nixon's run for Presidency. He retired from the University of Chicago in 1977 but continued to remain active in research and discussion of the economic field. During his life he won numerous awards, honorary degrees and in 1976 he won the Nobel Prize for Economics. For all of you, eh, cannabis users you might want to recognize his work in researching the economic benefits of legalization of marijuana.

Mr. Friedman passed away from heart failure.


July 31, 1912 - November 16, 2006
RIP

Labels: 1912 births, 2006 November deaths, economics, heart failure, political

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