Alan Greenspan Dies: Longtime Fed Chair Shaped US Economy, Lifelong NYer

One of the most powerful voices in modern American finance is gone.

Alan Greenspan, the economist who chaired the Federal Reserve for nearly 19 years, died Monday, June 22, at age 100 from complications of Parkinson’s disease, his wife of 29 years, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell, said in a statement, according to the network.

Greenspan was first appointed Fed chair by President Ronald Reagan in 1987. He remained in the role until January 2006, serving under Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.

His tenure made him the second-longest-serving Fed chair in US history.

Greenspan helped guide the US economy through the 1987 stock market crash, the Asian financial crisis, the dot-com boom and bust, and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

During the 1990s, he became a rare celebrity central banker. His careful, often opaque public language became known as fedspeak, a style watched closely by investors for clues about interest rates and the economy.

He was also tied to one of the best-known phrases in modern market history: “irrational exuberance,” a warning he delivered in 1996 as stock prices surged.

Greenspan was widely praised during a long period of economic growth, low inflation, and booming markets. But his legacy became far more complicated after the 2008 financial crisis.

Greenspan was born in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. Before economics became his life’s work, he studied music and played clarinet and saxophone.

He attended Columbia University and earned degrees from NYU, later building a career as an economic consultant before entering government service.

Greenspan served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Gerald Ford before his long run at the Fed.