Alan Greenspan, Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Dies at 100
Alan Greenspan, Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Dies at 100
Victoria Edel, Rachel McRadyMon, June 22, 2026 at 11:17 AM UTC
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Alan Greenspan in 2012.Credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty -
Alan Greenspan, a Federal Reserve chairman for nearly two decades under four U.S. presidents, died at the age of 100 on June 22
Greenspan was married to NBC journalist Andrea Mitchell, who described him as her greatest supporter and life partner
Known for his economic influence, Greenspan faced criticism for policies linked to the 2008 financial crisis
Alan Greenspan has died at the age of 100. The economist was chairman of the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, a tenure that spanned four presidential administrations.
Greenspan's wife, NBC journalist Andrea Mitchell shared the news of his death on Monday, June 22, in a statement.
"Alan passed away at our home this morning at the age of 100 from complications of Parkinson's Disease," Mitchell told NBC News 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."
Mitchell, 79, a longtime journalist, added of her beloved husband, "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. He will be remembered for his brilliance and his kindness. Being his life partner was the joy of my life."
Greenspan was born in New York City in 1926. His father was a stockbroker. After his parents divorced when he was four years old, he grew up with his mother's family, who were Russian Jewish immigrants, and his mother worked in retail to support him.
"I was by myself a great deal of the time," he told CNN in 2017. Reflecting on the families he grew up around during the Great Depression, he explained, "They had to work or they'd starve."
Alan Greenspan in 1982.Credit: Diana Walker/Getty
Greenspan's early interest was music. He played sax and clarinet in a swing band and studied the former for a year at Juilliard. "I was the band intellectual who did their income taxes," he told CNN.
In 1945, he graduated from New York University's Stern School of Business with a bachelor's in business, and five years later he received an M.A. During the '50s, he was also friends with novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand, and he believed strongly in the free market. Greenspan eventually finished his Ph.D. in economics at NYU in 1977.
In 1955, he started the economic consulting firm Townsend-Greenspan & Co., Inc., which he saw as a better path than climbing the corporate ladder. He ran the firm for 30 years until he was nominated to run the Federal Reserve, per The New York Times.
"The firm employed more than 20 economists and operated computer models that simulated the national economy and various industries," the outlet noted.
Alan Greenspan and Andrea Mitchell in 2011.Credit: Paul Morigi/WireImage
In 1974, President Gerald Ford appointed him as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, a role in which he served until 1977. Greenspan also worked as corporate director for a host of companies, including General Foods and J.P. Morgan & Co.
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President Ronald Reagan nominated Greenspan as chairman of the Federal Reserve in June 1987. He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate that August. Months later, Greenspan's Federal Reserve had to respond to the 1987 stock market crash.
Greenspan kept his post through the presidential administrations of George Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. PEOPLE wrote in 1998, "A cross between oracle and king, he doesn't just drop hints about the future. He has the power to make it happen."
Alan Greenspan with his book 'The Age of Turbulence' in 2007.Credit: Ryan Born/WireImage
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After five terms, Greenspan's tenure ended in January 2006. Greenspan received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from Bush in 2005 before his departure. He received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth in 2002. He released a memoir, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, in 2007, The Map and the Territory: Risk, Human Nature, and the Future of Forecasting in 2013 and Capitalism in America: A History in 2018.
Though Greenspan led the Federal Reserve through many crises, including the burst of the dotcom bubble in 2000. Many believed his own policies were to blame. "I probably could have caught a number of different crises," he told NPR in 2013. "I came very close in the dotcom boom."
Greenspan was also criticized for enacting policies that contributed to the subprime mortgage crisis that led to the recession at the end of the 2000s. In a 2008 Congressional hearing, he admitted he had "found a flaw" in his economic beliefs, according to The New York Times.
Greenspan accepted more of the blame in a 2010 report, writing, "For years the Federal Reserve had been concerned about the ever-larger size of our financial institutions. Regrettably, we did little to address the problem," per The New York Times.
"We had been lulled into a sense of complacency by the only modestly negative economic aftermaths of the stock market crash of 1987 and the dot-com boom," Greenspan wrote. "Given history, we believed that any declines in home prices would be gradual."
Alan Greenspan in 2012.Credit: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty
Greenspan married painter Joan Mitchell in 1952. They received an annulment 10 months later. He dated Barbara Walters in the 1970s, though they remained friends after their romantic relationship cooled. He began dating NBC News journalist Andrea Mitchell in 1984, and they married in 1997, in a ceremony officiated by Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
"I intend to make her happy, and I will succeed," Greenspan told PEOPLE in 1997 after tying the knot. In her 2005 memoir Talking Back, Mitchell called Greenspan "my biggest fan," who always told her "your work comes first."
Greenspan is survived by his wife.
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