Overview
- His wife, NBC News correspondent Andrea Mitchell, confirmed that Greenspan died at home from complications of Parkinson’s disease, a statement published on Monday that served as the first public announcement of his death.
- Greenspan led the Federal Reserve from 1987 to 2006, the second-longest tenure in the job, and guided policy through major shocks such as the October 1987 stock crash, the 1990s tech boom and bust, and the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.
- The Federal Reserve issued an official statement mourning his passing and credited him with shaping U.S. monetary policy, preserving price stability, and building the institution’s credibility during his 18½ years as chair.
- His record remains contested because his push for low rates and a deregulatory approach — often called the “Greenspan put” — is cited by the bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission and others as helping create vulnerabilities that fed the 2007–09 financial collapse, a flaw Greenspan later acknowledged by saying, “I made a mistake.”
- Greenspan won major honors including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, ran a private consultancy after leaving the Fed, and his death has prompted both institutional tributes and renewed public debate over the regulation of banks, mortgage lending and complex financial derivatives.