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Greenspan dies at 100
Alan Greenspan, the longtime Federal Reserve chairman known as "the Maestro" and famed for warning of "irrational exuberance," died Monday at his home at age 100 due to complications of Parkinson's Disease. His wife of 29 years, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell, announced his death, calling him "a giant of a man who helped shape the U.S. economy for decades under presidents of both parties." Greenspan was appointed Fed chairman by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 and served until 2006, making his tenure the second-longest in history. He guided monetary policy through booms and busts, including the 1987 Black Monday crash, where he calmed markets by pledging liquidity. His loose monetary policy is sometimes blamed for contributing to the 2008 financial crisis. He coined the phrase "irrational exuberance" in a 1996 speech, briefly rattling global markets. Known for his cryptic "Fedspeak," Greenspan deliberately used convoluted language to avoid direct answers. He admitted in 2007 that this was purposeful obfuscation to sidestep difficult questions from Congress. His influence was immense: Fortune magazine declared in 1996, "In Greenspan We Trust." Born in 1926 in New York's Washington Heights to Jewish parents, Greenspan studied economics at NYU, earning bachelor's and master's degrees by 1950 and a Ph.D. in 1977. He played clarinet and saxophone, briefly attended Juilliard, and performed in Woody Herman's jazz band. His mentors included Arthur Burns and Ayn Rand, introduced by his first wife, artist Joan Mitchell. Before the Fed, he worked at Brown Brothers Harriman and ran Townsend-Greenspan consulting, and served as chairman of President Gerald Ford's Council of Economic Advisers from 1974 to 1977. After retiring from the Fed, he acknowledged his mistakes. Fed Chair Ben Bernanke praised him as "a great central banker" whose insights remain influential.