Edward Emory Leamer (1944-2025)

Ed died on February 25 after a short battle with ALS. Ed's Wikipedia page describes Ed's distinguished career as an economist and his run on a third-party ticket for Vice President. His UCLA faculty page goes in to much more detail as does this Wall Street Journal obituary (subscription required).

 

There will be a memorial service, but the date is not yet set. Details will be on this page when available.

 

We learned of Ed's death from a Facebook post by his daughter, Abby Leamer Stanton.

"After a brief and brutal battle with ALS, yesterday we said goodbye to my dad Ed Leamer. I am grateful to have been holding his hand when he took his last breath. He was a world renowned economist but always said his greatest legacy was his family. He was a devoted father and grandfather. There are so many gifts he has given me including the love of laughter, books, the ocean and travel. Words cannot convey how much he impacted me, how much how much he meant to me, or how much he will be missed. Love you Dad."

 

Responding to the 2017 birthday card, Ed responded to Jon Holman:

"I went to Princeton thinking I would major in Physics, which I enjoyed in an introductory theoretical Physics course in my Freshman year but didn't like the lab course in my Sophomore year. So I opted for Math instead. I took a couple of Economics courses. The micro course was basically a sequence of simple constrained optimization problems which made me think there was room for me there. I focused on the Applied Math curriculum with Feller for probability, and Rockefeller and Kuhn and Tucker in linear programming and game theory. They were all incredible people. In the summers I was a computer programmer for IBM in Endicott, New York, a task at which I excelled. That was a career option, which I have since wondered what would it have been like if I had stayed with IBM. Incidentally, way back in 1965 IBM was thinking about putting a personal computer on your desk. I designed and coded what was probably one of the first graphical applications which involved taking numerically described engineering designs for computer cards and creating drawings of them that could be used on the assembly line.

 

"I was in the middle of a group of about 10 Math majors in our class, and knew early on that I was not destined to be a Math star. I chose Economics for graduate school because it seemed to fit well with my math skills and because Economics is a broad field including Math, Philosophy, Sociology, Psychology and so on.  It wasn't much of an intellectual commitment to do a Ph.D in Economics. The cloud in the sky was the Vietnam draft.

 

"It surprises me that you regard being a math major as an impressive accomplishment. I tend to think that I was viewed with suspicion for being a Math major coming from a public high school in a decidedly middle class part of the country."

 

In 2019, in response to the annual class birthday card, Ed's comments indicated his activities and interests.

"I joined the tribe of economists and pretty much disconnected from PU Class of '66, though I did attend and much enjoyed our 50th. But seeing on the lists of email recipients names that bring back many many fond memories I realize I made a mistake. If you are in or passing through LA, and want to reconnect, I am ready. Tennis, golf, museums, food, a tour of UCLA, oceans, mountains, earthquakes, mudslides and interesting conversations are offered, as required."

 

UCLA Anderson School of Management's announcement of Ed's death, summary of his career, and a link to the tribute to Ed's contribution to economics, made the day before his death. This 2001 LA Times article, The Leamer Way: Real Economics, provides another view of Ed's work, in particular his prediction of the 2001 recession mentioned in the UCLA announcement.

 

Nassau Herald

55th Reunion

Memories and Tributes

Brian Wright:

So sorry to hear. Ed came to PU from Vestal HS with Hazen Hunt and Bill Montross and was the true scholar among them. Getting to know the three of them, we were influenced to move to Vestal ourselves so our children could be educated and challenged the same as they were. Billy became a town councilman and helped me coach our son’s Little League team. Our decision was validated when Rick ’87 became the first son of our Great Class to attend PU. Ed will always be remembered as a real gentleman and scholar.

 

Phil Hansen:

Ed, Henry Dwyer, John Hoerster and I started out freshman year as roommates in Witherspoon in the Fall of ’62. Over the ensuing four years we merged with other classmates (John Rutledge, Vic Mailey, Bill Wetzel, and Mark Yeoman), split, and merged again with a gang from ’67 (Frank Puleo, Dick York, Pete Zeitzoff, Dean Wanderer) as we migrated from Witherspoon to Hamilton to Campbell, but Henry, Ed and I remained roommates for all four years. We were compatible, but different personalities.

 

Ed was a brilliant student, and I well remember his senior thesis, which impressed me even at the time. Ed was from Vestal, NY. Both before and during college, he worked summers at the IBM facility in Endicott doing computer programming—back when that meant being fluent in FORTRAN. At Princeton, he spent long hours running the econometric studies for his thesis on Princeton’s giant 1965 state-of-the-art IBM computer. The resulting thesis was, to a chem major, both awe-inspiring and prophetic.
 
The event from our college days that first comes to mind involved Ed’s 20th birthday. We had read that males reach the peak of their sexual drive around 20 years of age, whereas females peak around 30. This bit of half-baked information compelled us to celebrate with our version of the debutante’s Coming Out Party, which we fashioned Ed’s  “Peaking Out Party” . This involved all the roommates wandering the campus and Prospect Street together with Ed (and others) drinking quite heavily and celebrating his peaking out. I cannot say whether he peaked or not.
 
Although in retrospect I wish we had, we did not keep in touch after Princeton. Each of us had his own life that minimally involved our shared Princeton experience. I saw Ed only three times after graduation, once while he was at Harvard, once in 1986 when I visited him at UCLA and then at our 50th reunion.

 

John Hoerster:

There is an extraordinary You Tube video that everyone should watch about Ed, Tribute to Edward Leamer's Contributions to Economics.  It is a Zoom gathering of 10 colleagues, including 3 Nobel Laureates, plus Ed and his brother Larry, that was held just the day before Ed’s death. The video is almost 2 hours in length, with wonderful comments and explanations about Ed’s contributions to economics and the joy and challenge of being mentored by Ed. Needless to say, it is quite unusual that Ed was able to hear this outpouring of respect and affection, with everyone knowing that Ed’s death was imminent. Much of the economics discussion was over my head, but there was no doubt from the presentations that Ed was a tremendously important contributor to the field of economics, with a special focus on international economics, and that Ed was his own man, always willing to challenge and cleverly make fun of sloppy thinking. Some of the speakers had been students of Ed; as a teacher, he was “demanding,” “terrifying,” “not cozy,”  “pointed in his criticisms.” As a PHD advisor, he could be a “hard ass.” He was known for taking the “con” out of economics and for being “Honest Ed.” One of his colleagues said that he was a combination of H.L Mencken (wit and incisive commentary) and Thorstein Veblen (an anthropologist of econometrics reminiscent of Veblen).”  Ed’s brother Larry said that at 7 or 8 Ed corrected the figures that his teacher Mrs. Johnson had written on the blackboard and when she said he was wrong, he refused to sit down or back down, a trait consistent with his academic style. All in all, there was a lot of love and admiration for Ed expressed that day.

 
Ed was one of my roommates freshman year. Unfortunately, Ed convinced me that the easiest course imaginable at Princeton was Statistics and so I took that course and barely passed (a 5 to be exact). I foolishly had failed to account for Ed’s brilliance in math (and beyond). Ed invited me to his home in Vestal, NY for a weekend that Fall. His father was an Economics Professor at what is now Binghamton University and the average IQ at the dinner table that weekend was probably the highest I’d ever experienced even though I was seriously bringing down the average. Shortly before winter break that year, Ed and I got into a “game” where we took turns hitting each other in the arm. After too long, Mark Yeoman broke up the “game,” but I could not raise my arm above my waist for two weeks. I forget why we did this, but there can be no doubt my immaturity had a lot to do with it. Fortunately, our friendship endured that very strange day.
 
When Ed was a senior, he began dating my high school girlfriend Cheryl (a Vassar student from Bellevue, Washington) and that summer they married. Fast forward 11 years, Ed, Cheryl, Carol, and I had dinner in Seattle and had a great time catching up except that, as it turned out, their marriage fell apart later that year. Ed was blessed, though,  with wonderful children (and ultimately grandchildren) as a result of his first marriage. (His wife Ama Neel was in the room with Ed as he participated in the gathering about his contributions to the field of economics.) After that evening with Ed, for many years I was not in contact with him except at a couple of reunions and a few phone conversations. Ed was always willing to dumb down his explanations in hopes that I could better understand his contributions to economics (but that 5 in Statistics kept getting in the way). We had a very nice conversation during Covid, including making plans to get together the next time he was in Seattle or I was in LA, but sadly it did not happen. 
 

I am in awe of the accomplishments of so many of our classmates. How did that happen?  Ed belongs on the shortish list of classmates who have made uniquely important contributions, thanks to his Mencken/Veblen style. Ed’s expertise in the economics of international trade is especially needed and important now, unfortunately, but the good news is that his career-long teaching and mentoring has helped prepare others to carry forward his work.

 

Vic Mailey:

Just some nuts and bolts about Ed; but, I'm afraid, nothing as consequential as what Henry and John and Phil might offer. After sophomore year, our paths diverged and we did not keep in touch with each other.
 
We met as cross-hall entry mates in Witherspoon. Our crew was John Rutledge, Bill Wetzel, Mark Yeoman and myself. Across the hall were Ed, Henry, John and Phil. The eight of us, however, mingled freely and were close enough to stay together (again, across the hall from each other) for sophomore year in Hamilton.
 
Ed was one of a crew from the Binghamton area, a Vestal virgin, as the joke went. I remember Ed as an electrical engineer and found out years later from John Hoerster that he had gone into economics and had achieved some prominence in that field.
 

Ed, John Rutledge and I joined Charter Club. But, early in junior year, I married and left campus and rarely made it to Charter for parties and never for meals.  So, I do not know who he might have been close to at Charter.

 

John Rutledge:

Ed was one of our "across the hall" friends when we arrived in Witherspoon and later a roommate in Hamilton when we had the suite among the Commons buildings. Ed was always the same decent, caring, intelligent and composed classmate we had. Among Ed's interest was an almost unhealthy love of the New York Yankees!
 
While the rest of us were struggling to cope with the academic challenges, Ed seemed to be on top of it all. When you needed a person to discuss some of the important issues of the day, Ed was there with a willing ear and a source of sound advice. He never had harsh words for anyone and was always willing to help. (Ed was quick to help me meet my date and later wife, Sue, as she made her way to Princeton for the first time and I did not know if she was on the PJB or a bus to downtown!)
 
I never had the chance to strengthen our friendship as Ed was on the West Coast and I and my family were mostly on the East Coast or Latin America or Houston. I did see him once in LA some years ago and had the chance to renew our friendship as well as at our 50th in 2016. (The attached photo shows Ed and Phil Hansen and me.) He was the same, affable and thoughtful man I had known many years ago. It was no surprise to know of the professional reputation he enjoyed.
 

I am feeling a great loss for the passing of someone I admired so much. I am sure his family will sorely miss all the wonderful traits we saw in our friend and even more that they saw in a father and grandfather.

 

50th Reunion: John Rutledge, Ed Leamer, Phil Hansen

 

April '63: Victor Mailey, Mark Yeoman, Ed Leamer and Bill Wetzel standing and John Hoerster and Henry Dwyer kneeling.

 

 

If you have photos or memories that you wish to share, please send them to the '66 Memorial Team (66_MemorialTeam@tiger1966.org). We will add them to this page.