Gramlich, Edward M.

Edward M. Gramlich was born in Rochester, New York on June 18, 1939. He graduated with a Bachelor's of Arts from Williams College in 1961. He then completed a Master's (1962) and Doctorate (1965) in Economics at Yale University.

His career was divided between academic institutions and government positions. He began his career in the government at the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Board in 1965. By 1971 he was the Director of the Policy Research Division in the Office of Economic Opportunity and remained there until 1973. In addition to his government work, he was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution for three years (1973-76).

His university career began in 1976 as professor of Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan (1976-97). He also served as Director of the Institute of Public Policy Studies (1979-83 and 1991-95), Chair of the Economics Department (1983-86 and 1989-90), and Dean of the School of Public Policy (1995-97). During these years, he returned to government work and served as Deputy Director, and then Acting Director, of the Congressional Budget Office (1986-87).

He left the University of Michigan in 1997 to become a Governor for the Federal Reserve Board. Among his responsibilities, he chaired multiple boards including the Emergency Loan Guarantee Board (1999-2005) and the Air Transportation Stabilization Board (2001-05). While on the Federal Reserve Board, he served as Vice-Chair (1999-2001) and then Chair (2001-05) of the Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation. He resigned as Governor in 2005.

After his resignation, he returned to the University of Michigan as a professor of economics and public policy. He became Interim Provost at Michigan during 2005-2006.

In addition to numerous citations in the news media, he was the author of many journal articles and a dozen books, primarily dealing with topics of economic and public policy. He was also the principal author of a few major reports, including "The Experiment in Educational Performance Contracting" for the Office of Economic Opportunity, "Staff Analysis" for the Major League Baseball's Economic Study Group and "Report of the 1994-96 Advisory Council on Social Security" for the Social Security Administration.

He died of leukemia on September 5, 2007 at the age of 68. Edward Gramlich and his wife Ruth had two children, Sarah and Robert.

From the guide to the Edward M. Gramlich papers, 1969-2007, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)