The Becker Friedman Institute mourns the passing of our namesake, Gary S. Becker, a giant of economics for more than five decades. He will be remembered as one of “the foremost economics scholars of the 20th century,” in the words of University of Chicago President Robert J. Zimmer.
Gary BeckerBecker, 83, University Professor of Economics and of Sociology at the University of Chicago, died on May 3 in Chicago. He won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1992 “for having extended the domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of human behavior and interaction, including non-market behavior.”
“Gary Becker was an exceptional intellectual leader,” said Lars Peter Hansen, research director of this institute, which Becker chaired.
“His pathbreaking research was remarkable in terms of its breadth, importance and creativity. For years he has been the personification of Chicago economics with his penetrating insights and analyses focusing on important economic and social challenges. His dedication to the University of Chicago and to Chicago economics was truly unique.”
The University’s announcement of his passing is here.