Edward E. Leamer ’66

Ed died Feb. 25, 2025, after a brief battle with ALS.

He came to Princeton from Vestal (N.Y.) High School, where he was yearbook editor, class president, and member of the debate team. At Princeton, he majored in mathematics, roomed with Henry Dwyer and Phil Hansen, belonged to Charter Club, and worked in the student center. After graduation, he earned a master’s degree in mathematics and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan.

Ed had an outstanding academic career, serving as associate professor at Harvard, then as economics professor at UCLA, and ultimately as professor of global economics and management at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and director of the UCLA Anderson Forecast. A prolific author, Ed published more than 100 academic articles and four books. The title of his best-known article, “Let’s Take the Con Out of Econometrics,” reflects both his wit and iconoclasm.

It is a measure of Ed’s stature in the field of economics that the day before his death, nearly 200 colleagues and friends, including three Nobel laureates in economics, gathered by Zoom for a “Tribute to Edward Leamer’s Contributions to Economics.”

Ed is survived by his wife, Ama Neel; daughters Stephanie and Abby; son Michael; and brother Laurence, to all of whom the class extends its condolences.