As far as I know, the memorial will be in late April. An
obituary is below. June Zaccone, National Jobs for All
Coalition (and Economics (Emerita), Hofstra University)
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Michael Perelman wrote:
>
> A memorial service for Lynn Turgeon will be held sometime this week at
> Hofstra University.
Lynn Turgeon died on Wednesday, March 10th in
Ann Arbor, Michigan, after a long illness.
He was 78 years old. He joined the Hofstra faculty
in 1957 was a Visiting Fulbright Professor of
Economics at Moscow State University in 1975 and
also at the Academy for Foreign Trade in Moscow
in 1991.
During the 1966-67 academic year he was awarded
the University's Distinguished Teaching Award,
bestowed upon him by Hofstra's student body.
Professor Turgeon was a specialist in comparative
systems, the Russian economy and Keynesian
economics. A prolific writer and correspondent on
the Internet, his full length books included "The
Contrasting Economies", "The Advanced Capitalist
System", "State and Discrimination", and "Bastard
Keynesianism".
He was an unabashed Keynesian and frequently
contributed to the Canadian journal, "Economic
Reform", which remains a bastion of Keynesian
thinking.
Ironically, his favorite mentor at Columbia
University,
where he earned his Ph.D. in 1959, was Robert
Fellner, an avowed neo-classicist. Professor Turgeon
taught at Hofstra University for 33 years, and
reminded
his students that often the most important learning
occurs when you confront ideas diametrically
opposed to your own.
Dr. Turgeon's views on Economics were iconoclastic--
often at odds with both conventional economists and
colleagues who shared his perspective. He believed
the
American economy was perpetually prone to under-
consumption and therefore advocated continuous
"active" federal deficits to spur demand rather than
allow "passive" deficits to result from under-use of
capacity.
An early and vocal opponent of the Vietnam War,
he nevertheless argued that large military
expenditures
were perversely "functional" for an economy that was
unable to provide true full employment. He also
advocated a neutral monetary policy harkening back
to the 1940s when the Federal Reserve was
subordinate
to the Treasury and interest rates were kept low.
Dr. Turgeon believed that inflation in the past 50
years
was largely of the cost-push variety and thus
monetarist
solutions leading to tight money were inappropriate
and
fundamentally destructive.
Professor Turgeon loved to challenge Milton
Friedman's
maxim of "no free lunch". He argued that because our
economy is normally well below true full employment,
not only "free lunches", but schools, bridges and
many
other productive goods can be provided at virtually
no
opportunity cost to society.
Dr. Turgeon was well known outside the United States
and might properly be called a citizen of the world.
He traveled and lectured extensively in Russia and
Eastern Europe during the height of the Cold War and
established many contacts with Eastern European
scholars whom he hosted here in the United States.
Dr. Turgeon is survived by his daughter, D. Kim
Turgeon M.D., two grandchildren, Livia Turgeon,
a sister Margaret Johnston, as well as legions of
grateful students and friends.
Martin Melkonian, Department of Economics,
Hofstra University, tel: 212-864-4493
516-463-5595 (O) 516-538-0299(H) fax
516-463-6519 [EMAIL PROTECTED]
