Alan Greenspan: Longtime Federal Reserve Chairman Dies at 100

Alan Greenspan was an American economist who chaired the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006. Born on March 6, 1926, in New York City, he trained as a clarinetist at Juilliard and played saxophone and clarinet in a swing band before becoming an economist.

Greenspan chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under President Gerald Ford and ran the consulting firm Townsend-Greenspan & Co. President Ronald Reagan named him Fed chairman in 1987, and he served five terms under four presidents, the second-longest tenure in Fed history. His policies were credited with a long period of growth and low inflation, but critics linked his low interest rates to the dot-com and housing bubbles that preceded the 2008 financial crisis.

Greenspan coined the phrase "irrational exuberance" in 1996 and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005. He was a member of novelist Ayn Rand's circle early in his career. In 1997 he married NBC journalist Andrea Mitchell. He died at his home in Washington, D.C., on June 22, 2026, at age 100, of complications of Parkinson's disease.

Achievements: Chair of the Federal Reserve (1987-2006), chair of the Council of Economic Advisers (1974-1977), "irrational exuberance" (1996), Presidential Medal of Freedom (2005).

Birth: March 6, 1926 - New York City.

Profession: Economist and central banker.

Interesting Facts: He admitted in 2008 that there was a flaw in his free-market ideology. He was a professional-level jazz musician in his youth.