Sad News

From: James Poterba <poterba_at_nber.org>
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:30:27 -0400

Dear NBER Board, Family and Staff Members:
    I am sorry to convey the news that John R. Meyer, the President of
the NBER between 1967 and 1977, passed away on Wednesday in Cambridge,
Massachusetts. John was born in 1927, and received his undergraduate
training at the University of Washington. He received his Ph.D. at
Harvard in 1955, and with the exception of a brief stint at Yale between
1968 and 1973, he spent his entire career as a member of the Harvard
faculty. At the time of his death, he was the James W. Harpel Professor
of Capital Formation and Economic Growth, Emeritus, at the John F.
Kennedy School of Government. John was widely acclaimed for his
path-breaking research in urban and transportation economics, fields to
which he contributed for many decades. He played a critical leadership
role during his time at the NBER. He diversified the NBER's research
program and broadened its scope substantially, and he opened both the
NBER's Cambridge office, originally called the NBER Computer Research
Center, and its Stanford office. He will be deeply missed.
Jim Poterba
Received on Thu Oct 22 2009 - 14:30:27 EDT