Allan Meltzer

Allan H. Meltzer, an influential conservative economist who strongly opposed government bailouts and was credited with coining the anti-bailout slogan, “Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin,” died on Monday May 8 2017 in Pittsburgh. He was 89. Allan Harold Meltzer was born on Feb. 6, 1928, in Boston to George Meltzer and the former Minerva Simon. His mother died when he was 6, and his father later remarried. Allan attended the Boys’ Latin School and Brookline High School in Massachusetts. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Duke University in 1948 and received master’s and doctoral degrees in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 1957 he became an assistant professor at the Carnegie Mellon Graduate School of Industrial Administration, later named the Tepper School of Business.. At his death, held a professorship there in political economy that was named for him. Under President Ronald Reagan, Dr. Meltzer was an acting member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. He is survived by his wife, the former Marilyn Ginsburg; two sons, Bruce and Eric; a daughter, Beth MacIsaac; a half sister from his father’s second marriage, Maxine Smith; and eight grandchildren.