Alan Greenspan, Former Fed Chair, Dies at [Age]

The former Federal Reserve chairman, known for his deep intellectual influence from author Ayn Rand, has passed away.

“Ayn Rand became a stabilizing force in my life. She was a wholly original thinker, sharply analytical, strong-willed, highly principled, and very insistent on rationality as the highest value.”

Early Connection with Ayn Rand

Greenspan and Rand first met in the 1950s through Greenspan's then-wife, Joan Mitchell, who was a friend of Nathaniel Branden's wife. Branden was Rand's protege and longtime lover.

Greenspan joined Rand's discussion group, the "Collective," which met at her apartment. Rand nicknamed Greenspan "the undertaker" due to his dark suits and sober demeanor.

Intellectual Collaboration

Greenspan contributed to Rand's magazine, The Objectivist, including an essay on the gold standard. Rand attended Greenspan's swearing-in as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Ford.

In his 2007 memoir The Age of Turbulence, Greenspan wrote that their shared values were deeply aligned:

"We agreed on the importance of mathematics and intellectual rigor."

A Multifaceted Background

Before his career in economics, Greenspan studied clarinet at Juilliard and played in a swing band with Stan Getz. He later dismissed most post-big band music as "on the edge of noise."