Obituary: George Treyz, professor emeritus of Economics

George I. Treyz, 76, professor emeritus of Economics, died Feb. 14 at his home in Amherst after a long illness.

 

Born in Callicoon, N.Y., he received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and received a doctorate in economics from Cornell University. He showed his entrepreneurial spirit at Princeton, starting a business selling grinders to fellow students, as featured in an article in Life magazine.

He taught for three years at Bryn Mawr and Haverford colleges before joining the Economics faculty in 1968. He was promoted to associate professor in 1973 and professor in 1980. Starting in 1976, he served as director of the Massachusetts Economic Policy Analysis Project. He was also an economist at the Bureau of Economic Analysis in 1974 and a research associate at the Naional Bureau of Economic Research from 1968-74.

He was a pioneer in the field of computerized macroeconomic modeling, starting with research in national macroeconomic modeling in the late 1960s. He was one of the first in his field to develop state and local econometric models. He founded Regional Economic Models, Inc. (REMI) in 1980 with a vision of improving government policy through economic analysis. His wife Sidney was involved with REMI from its beginnings and his son Frederick continues to guide REMI today.

 

He retired from the faculty in 1995.

 

He leaves Sidney, his wife of 54 years, sons Victor of San Francisco and Frederick of Amherst, six grandchildren and a brother.

 

Memorial donations may be made to UMass Amherst Friends of the Libraries, For: George I Treyz Fund for Economic Reference Materials, Friends of the Libraries, UMass Amherst, W.E.B. Du Bois Library, 154 Hicks Way, Amherst, 01003-9275.