Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, the economist known as “The Maestro” who helped steer the U.S. economy through nearly two decades of growth and turmoil, has died at the age of 100.
Greenspan died from complications related to Parkinson’s disease, according to reports confirmed by his wife, veteran journalist Andrea Mitchell.
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, Greenspan led the Federal Reserve until 2006, serving under four presidents and becoming the second-longest-serving chairman in the central bank’s history.
His tenure spanned some of the most turbulent moments in modern financial history, including the 1987 stock market crash, the Asian financial crisis, the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management, the bursting of the dot-com bubble, and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Greenspan became one of the most influential figures in Washington and on Wall Street during the 1990s, earning the nickname “The Maestro” and developing a reputation for making carefully worded public remarks that often left investors and economists parsing every sentence.
He famously warned about “irrational exuberance” in the stock market in 1996, a phrase that became part of the financial lexicon.
Born in New York City in 1926, Greenspan initially studied music before turning to economics. He later built a successful consulting business and became associated with novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand before entering government service.
His reputation took a hit after the 2008 financial crisis, when critics argued that his support for deregulation and faith in financial institutions helped create the conditions that fueled the housing bubble. Greenspan later acknowledged flaws in some of his assumptions about risk.
Despite the criticism, Greenspan remained a towering figure in American economic history and one of the most recognizable central bankers of the modern era.
