GINZBERG, Eli 1911-2002

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born April 30, 1911, in New York, NY; died December 12, 2002, in New York, NY. Economist, educator, and author. Ginzberg, who taught at Columbia University for more than six decades, was a prominent economist who advised U.S. presidents, the military, and corporations on issues ranging from manpower efficiency to health care. Educated at Columbia University, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1934, he joined the faculty there the next year and remained at Columbia throughout his academic career, becoming professor emeritus in 1979. While at Columbia, he also served as director of the Research Economics and Group Behavior during the 1940s, the Staff Studies on National Manpower Council during the 1940s through the 1950s, the Eisenhower Center for Human Resources, and the Revson Fellows Program on the Future of New York City. He was a consultant to the U.S. Department of the Army from 1946 to 1970, the Department of State during the 1950s and 1960s, the Department of Labor beginning in the 1950s, the Department of Defense from 1964 to 1971, and the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, advising presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Jimmy Carter. During World War II Ginzberg helped the military vastly improve its efficiency by reducing unneeded civilian staff and advising on the deployment of troops, for which service he was awarded a medal for Exceptional Civilian Service in 1946. He worked hard to desegregate the U.S. military during the 1950s, and was highly valued by the Carter administration for his advice on the health care system during the 1970s. In 1974 Ginzberg cofounded the Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, which researched the effects of public policy. In addition to these achievements, he was a prolific author and editor of books on economics, having over 120 books to his credit. Some notable works among these include The Illusion of Economic Stability (1939), The Uneducated (1953), The Ineffective Soldier: Lessons for Management and the Nation (1959), The Human Economy (1976), American Medicine: The Power Shift (1985), and the memoirs My Brother's Keeper (1989) and The Eye of Illusion (1993).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

periodicals

Los Angeles Times, December 17, 2002, p. B10.

New York Times, December 16, 2002, p. A29.

Washington Post, December 20, 2002, p. B8.