Beryl W. Sprinkel, 85; was top economic adviser
WASHINGTON - Beryl W. Sprinkel, 85, an economist who served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Reagan administration and who helped guide the administration's response to the October 1987 stock market crash, died Aug. 22 at a nursing home in Beecher, Ill.
WASHINGTON - Beryl W. Sprinkel, 85, an economist who served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the Reagan administration and who helped guide the administration's response to the October 1987 stock market crash, died Aug. 22 at a nursing home in Beecher, Ill.
He had Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome, a rare neuromuscular disease.
Dr. Sprinkel, protege of conservative economic guru Milton Friedman, taught economics at the University of Chicago and was executive vice president and economic adviser at the Harris Trust & Savings Bank in Chicago for nearly 30 years.
He joined the administration of President Ronald Reagan in 1981 as undersecretary of the Treasury for monetary affairs, where he was Treasury Secretary Donald Regan's principal negotiator on issues of Third World debt and the financing of the International Monetary Fund and other international lending agencies.
In 1985, Dr. Sprinkel was named chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, after seven months of uncertainty over the council's future. The former chairman, Martin Feldstein, frequently questioned Reagan administration economic policies and had a fractious relationship with Regan, who later became the president's chief of staff.
In 1987, Dr. Sprinkel was a contender to succeed Paul Volcker as chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, but the job went to Alan Greenspan. Dr. Sprinkel announced his resignation as council chairman afterward, but Reagan rejected it in the aftermath of the stock market crash. He also elevated Dr. Sprinkel's post to cabinet-level status.
Dr. Sprinkel was born on a tobacco farm near Richmond, Mo. During World War II, he was a member of an Army armored division that helped stop the German offensive near Celles, Belgium, in the Battle of the Bulge.
Dr. Sprinkel taught economics at the University of Missouri and at Chicago before working for Harris Trust in Chicago from 1952 to 1981. His books included Money and Stock Prices (1964) and Money and Markets: A Monetarist View (1971).