Paul McCracken, distinguished economist and long-time AEI friend and colleague, began his involvement with the American Enterprise Association in the mid-1950s.  He joined the association’s academic advisory board in 1959, and in 1962, when the association changed its name to the American Enterprise Institute, he became the board’s chairman. 

So important was his service to the organization that when AEI’s president resigned in 1986, the institute’s board turned to McCracken and named him interim president.  McCracken was chairman of the president’s Council of Economic Advisers from 1969 to 1971.  Until his death, he was the Edmund Ezra Day Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Business Administration, Economics and Public Policy at the University of Michigan.  A memorial service will be held in the fall.