ROBERT AUERBACH

AUERBACH ROBERT D. AUERBACH (Age 88) Professor Emeritus Passed away on the evening of January 20, 2017, at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, MD. Professor Auerbach relocated to Bethesda, MD this past summer when he retired from the faculty of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, at age 87. Professor Auerbach's 18 years on the Texas faculty capped a long career as an economist in academia and government. Professor Auerbach was born in Chicago, Illinois on December 2, 1928, where he spent the first half of his life. His own father, Malcolm, passed away when he was nine years old leading him to become involved in scouting and eventually attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. He served in the Illinois National Guard and spent time in early adulthood volunteering at VA hospitals. He will be remembered by family and friends for his kind, generous and compassionate spirit, his delightful humor and warm heart. He loved taking long walks, making his wife laugh and being with his family. Professor Auerbach is survived by his wife of 45 years, Linda Auerbach; children, Donald Auerbach and Kathryn Crandlemire, their spouses Courtney Hagen and Erik Crandlemire; and granddaughter, Charlotte Crandlemire, all of whom reside in the Washington, DC area. At the LBJ School, in 2001 he was honored for services to students with disabilities, and in 2010 he was nominated by the Graduate Public Affairs Council at the LBJ School to the Senate of College Councils to be "Professor of the Year." He was voted to the rank of Emeritus Professor by his colleagues in November 2016. Prior to his time on the Texas faculty, Professor Auerbach was a full professor at American University in Washington, DC and at the University of California, Riverside, the latter of which designated him Professor Emeritus in 1992. In government he twiceserved as an economist on the Democratic staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Banking, once from the late 1970's to early 1980's and again in the 1990's for a total of 11 years. He also served as an economist at the Kansas City Federal Reserve in the 1970's and in the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Domestic Finance during the Reagan Administration. Professor Auerbach received his first MA in economics from Roosevelt University. He completed his graduate studies at the University of Chicago where he received a second MA and a PhD in economics during the height of the "Chicago School" led by Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman who chaired Professor Auerbach's PhD dissertation committee. Professor Auerbach maintained a correspondence and friendship with Professor Friedman until Friedman's death. During his career, Professor Auerbach authored college textbooks on banking and finance, dozens of academic articles and more recently a blog on the Huffingtonpost.com. Fittingly, his last published work is the chapter titled "Friedman and the Income Effects of Financing Government Deficits" which is included in the Oxford University Press's 2016 compendium: Milton Friedman: Contributions to Economics and Public Policy. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Sasha Bruce Youthwork, a charity that supports young people in the Washington area. Friends and family will gather at Donald Auerbach and Courtney Hagen's home this Saturday at 3 p.m. for an open house. A private memorial will be held in Chicago later in the year. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Sasha Bruce Youthwork, a charity that supports young people in the Washington area. Friends and family will gather at Donald Auerbach and Courtney Hagen's home this Saturday at 3 p.m. for an open house. A private memorial will be held in Chicago later in the year.