In Memoriam: William Baumol, Lloyd E. Cotsen ’50

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Robert Matthews, Office of Communications

Professor emeritus of economics and senior economist William Baumol died May 4 in New York City. He was 95. Baumol joined the faculty in 1949 and retired in 1992. One of the leading economists of the 20th century, he was best known for the idea called Baumol’s cost disease: that rising productivity in some sectors, such as manufacturing, pushes up wages in labor-intensive industries, such as services, making them more expensive each year.

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Courtesy Cotsen family

Trustee emeritus and philanthropist Lloyd E. Cotsen ’50 died May 8 in Beverly Hills. He was 88. The former CEO, president, and chairman of Neutrogena Corp., Cotsen donated his collection of more than 40,000 children’s books — dating from the 15th century to the present — to Princeton in 1994. Three years later, the Cotsen Children’s Library opened its doors in Firestone Library. His numerous contributions to the University supported teaching innovation and the humanities, including a gift to launch the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts.