Walter Williams, conservative economist, columnist, dead at 84
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Nationally syndicated columnist and George Mason University economics professor Walter Williams, whose work appeared regularly in the Tribune-Review, died on Wednesday at the age of 84. Over the course of his career, he was praised for his rigorous research on minority groups and government policies affecting African Americans.
Williams, a native of Philadelphia, was a prominent faculty member for 40 years at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., the university said in a statement. Williams remained active on campus until his death.
“Dr. Williams’ body of work was remarkable, prolific and, without question, controversial,” the university said. “His principal scholarly research was devoted to studying the effects on minority groups of markets as well as of government policies, an important and complicated area of study.”
Williams wrote 10 books and authored more than 150 publications that appeared in scholarly journals and popular publications such as Newsweek. His 1982 book, “The State Against Blacks,” was made into a PBS documentary, “Good Intentions.”
Columns appeared in Trib
His syndicated weekly column was printed in about 140 newspapers, including the Tribune-Review.
He made numerous radio and television appearances, including such well-known shows as “Firing Line,” “Face the Nation” and “MacNeil/Lehrer,” according to his biography on the George Mason University website.
His conservative credentials earned him a spot as an occasional substitute host on Rush Limbaugh’s radio talk show.
Williams was characterized in an article on Forbes’ website as an “intellectual giant” and “an unparalleled communicator of economic wisdom and ideas.”
Donald Boudreaux, an economics professor and former chairman of the economics department at George Mason, wrote in a tribute that his columns had “the mark of a master economist, skillfully using economic reasoning to make important points about economic reality or public policy.”
Boudreaux wrote in a Wall Street Journal piece eulogizing Williams that “critics challenged him incessantly, and he responded patiently and compellingly. … Agree or not with Walter Williams, all who knew him were struck by just what a principled person — a man of deep integrity — he was.”
Grove City, Saint Vincent connection
Williams was elected to the Grove City College’s board of trustees in 2003 before assuming honorary status in 2014, the Mercer County college said on its website. His involvement with Grove City dates to the 1980s. He spoke at the 1992 commencement, when he was awarded an honorary doctorate. He also was a commencement speaker in 2012.
Grove City praised Williams’ work to advance faith and freedom “through an eloquent and forceful defense of sound economic principles, personal liberty and religious freedom.”
Williams lectured on the legitimate role of government in a free society at Saint Vincent College in Unity, said Gary Quinlivan, an economics professor and dean of the Alex G. McKenna School of Business, Economics and Government at Saint Vincent College.
“Dr. Williams packed the audience at Saint Vincent College and I was surprised when a large bus load of fans of Walter Williams showed up with signs reading ‘Walter Williams for President!’ His lecture was truly one of the best ever at Saint Vincent College and our Center for Economic and Policy Education has hosted close to 600 distinguished lectures,” Quinlivan said.
Quinlivan said that Williams had of way of providing clarity as to why economic problems exist and how they tend to be easily solved by free markets.