Thurow, Lester Carl [key], 1938–2016, American economist, b. Livingston, Mont.; B.A. Williams College, 1960; M.A. Oxford, 1962; Ph.D. Harvard, 1964. Professor of management and economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Thurow was an influential writer and lecturer who was often consulted about national economic policies. He served (1964–65) on President Lyndon Johnson's Council of Economic Advisors, then taught at Harvard (1966–68). He moved to MIT in 1968, where he served as dean (1987–93) of the Sloan School of Management. An economics columnist for the New York Times (1980–81) and a contributing editor (1981–83) for Newsweek, Thurow sought to make economics widely accessible, and was noted for his concern for the effects of economic inequality on American society and for the effects of globalization on American workers. Among his many books are The Zero-Sum Society (1980), The Zero-Sum Solution: Building a World-Class American Economy (1985), The Future of Capitalism (1996), Economics Explained (with R. L. Heilbroner, rev. ed. 1998), Building Wealth (1999), and Fortune Favors the Bold (2003).
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