David Bradford, renowned economist, dies at 66

Wilson School Associate Dean and professor David Bradford, a prominent labor economist and former White House adviser, died Tuesday morning from injuries sustained in a fire in his home two weeks ago. He was 66.

Family, students and colleagues at Princeton and elsewhere mourned the passing of Bradford, who had been in critical condition in a Philadelphia hospital since the fire on Feb. 8.

Bradford spent nearly 40 years at the Wilson School, serving as acting dean twice. An authority on the tax system, he was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers under President George H.W. Bush.

"He thought more deeply and more insightfully about the tax system than any economist of his generation," said Stanford University economics professor Michael Boskin, a longtime friend.

News of the death spread quickly through the University community Tuesday morning, and Dodds Auditorium was filled past capacity for an impromptu memorial.

Speaking at the service, Wilson School Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter '80 called the crowd "an affirmation of the community he helped to shape over the last 30 years."

"He would have been amazed to know how loved he was," she said.

Bradford was severely burned after candles on a Christmas tree at his home caught fire early Feb. 8, police said. He was sleeping when the fire started and "suffered third degree burns to a large portion of his body" trying to escape the fire, according to a statement by the police.

Bradford was also an adjunct professor at the New York University School of Law, where he taught tax policy and led the Colloquium on Tax Policy and Public Finance.

Boskin called Bradford an "a star, an all-around class act ... [who] will be deeply missed personally and professionally."

University economics professor Uwe Reinhardt said Bradford was "a wonderful colleague and a wonderful dean" when he spoke at the memorial.

Though Bradford wanted to focus more on academics, he was willing to take on an administrative role as associate dean of the Wilson School when Slaughter had difficulty filling the position. "I needed him, the school needed him, Princeton needed him," she said.

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At the memorial Slaughter said Bradford "unfailingly saw the good in other people and tried to bring it out in them."

Politics department chair Jeffrey Herbst '83, who worked with Bradford regularly to coordinate activities between the politics department and the Wilson School, said he had "a kind of modesty which is a lesson to us all."

Bradford had a strong reputation in Washington, but was "embarrassed" by his fame, Herbst said.

Bradford was also a research associate at the National Board of Economic Research (NBER) in Cambridge, Mass. NBER health care program director and Stanford professor of medicine and economics Alan Garber said his colleague was a prolific and productive researcher and "one of the leading economists in the country."

A 1960 graduate of Amherst College, Bradford joined the Wilson School as an assistant professor of economics in 1966 after earning a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford and a Masters' Degree in applied mathematics from Harvard.

He became an associate professor of economics and public affairs in 1971 and was promoted to full professor in 1975.

Bradford is survived by his wife Gundel, their children Theodore and Lulu, and four grandchildren. Family members could not be reached for comment, but have told University officials they are working on planning a funeral and other memorials.