Alan Greenspan, the pre-eminent economic policymaker of his time who was at the helm of the Federal Reserve for nearly two decades, serving five consecutive terms until stepping down in 2006, has died. He was 100 years old.
The influential yet polarizing economist was appointed Fed Chair by Ronald Reagan in 1987, and oversaw a period of immense wealth creation before ultimately being faulted for being among those responsible for creating the conditions that led to the 2008 financial crisis.
He died on Monday at his home in Washington, his wife Andrea Mitchell, the chief Washington correspondent and chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News, said in a statement, citing complications of Parkinson’s disease as his cause of death.
© Getty ImagesThe family’s statement
Mitchell, who was married to Greenspan for 29 years, said of her late husband in a statement: “He was a giant of a man who helped shape the U.S. economy for decades under presidents of both parties, but was always honest in acknowledging his mistakes.”
“To me he was my husband, who shaped my life from our very first date in 1984. He had ‘irrational exuberance’ for baseball, the Washington Commanders, tennis, golf and music, especially jazz,” she continued. “He will be remembered for his brilliance and his kindness. Being his life partner was the joy of my life.”
© Getty ImagesMitchell and Greenspan’s marriage
Mitchell, then around 37, met Greenspan, then around 57, in 1983, when she interviewed him about the future of Social Security, while he was serving as an economic consultant and chairing the National Commission on Social Security Reform.
They had their first date on December 28, 1984, and after 12 years of dating, they married at the Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Virginia in April 1997, with late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg serving as their officiant.
“We have a huge amount in common. It’s a really great match,” Greenspan told the Washington Post in December 1996, with Mitchell noting the proposal, on Christmas morning, was a complete surprise.
“We came home and he said, ‘Do you want a big wedding or a small wedding?'” she said, adding: “Here I am, a hard-boiled reporter, and I have got butterflies. We have been together a long time, but I think marriage will be different.”
© Getty ImagesTheir romantic past
Mitchell is Greenspan’s only immediate survivor, with neither having children, though they were both previously married. Mitchell was first married to Gil Jackson, from the early 1970s to 1975, after which she left Philadelphia for Washington D.C., where her career blossomed.
Greenspan married Joan Mitchell (later Joan Mitchell Blumenthal), a painter and writer, in 1952, though the marriage was declared not a legally completed marriage and was annulled ten months later.
He was also in an on-and-off relationship with late famed journalist Barbara Walters for several years in the 1970s, though both previously noted it wasn’t an exclusive one, singing each other’s praises and maintaining a decades-long friendship in the years following their romance.