Posted on 02/24/2005 11:06:51 AM PST by LibWhacker
PRINCETON, N.J. - David F. Bradford, a Princeton University economics professor and former presidential adviser, died Tuesday from injuries suffered in a fire at his home two weeks earlier. He was 66.
Bradford, who served as a top economic adviser to former President Bush (news - web sites), suffered third-degree burns over half his body in the Feb. 8 fire, which was caused by one of about 10 lit candles on a Christmas tree that had been in the house since December.
He had been a member of Princeton's faculty since 1966 and was an authority on taxation.
He was a member of Bush's Council of Economic Advisers from 1991 to 1993 and served under Presidents Ford and Reagan. He also was deputy assistant secretary for tax policy in the Treasury Department (news - web sites) in 1975 and 1976.
At the Treasury, Bradford played a key role in the study that resulted in the publication of "Blueprints for Basic Tax Reform," regarded as a precursor to the major income tax reforms enacted in 1986.
At the time of his death, Bradford was a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School. He also held positions with the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Mass., the American Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C., and the New York University School of Law.
Lit candles on a Christmas tree in February???
1. Why was the tree still up?
2. Why would he light the candles in February?
3. If he lit the candles, when the tree caught fire why didn't he run out of the house?
probably meant a string of bulbs shorted out....it is totaly rediculous to think someone would put an open flame on a seasoned conifer......bad enough to keep it in the house since christmas.
Every year our local fire department goes on the news to show how quickly dried out Christmas trees go up in flames. Whoosh! We buy live trees for Christmas and then plant them outside at the beginning of January. The oldest one we have is almost 20 feet high now.
4. How can smart people be so DUMB?
I checked the source. It doesn't look foreign (e.g. British) to me, which was the only way I could see "candles" meaning "light bulbs."
....it is totaly rediculous to think someone would put an open flame on a seasoned conifer.
Much less a dead and likely thoroughly dried-up pine tree.
He was 66 and likely already passed his genes on to another generation. Keep an eye on those offspring, though. ;-)
OK. But why was it still in the house and why did he light it? (And why didn't he simply pour some water on it?)
David Bradford was one of my professors. He was brilliant, kind, humble, and (drumroll please..............) a Republican.
The burning candle in tree thing does baffle me, especially in February.
There are plenty of people around my house with Xmas wreaths still up, so I guess it's not too much of a jump for someone to still have their tree up. The candle thing does baffle me though. What is this, 1842?
Oh! that makes more sense...................NOT!!!
A prof with limited smarts? and that never happens
Oh! that makes more sense...................NOT!!!
A prof with limited smarts? and that never happens
If it were, I'd think the tree would have been chopped up and loaded into the wood burner long before Feb. 8.
1) Laziness -- not too uncommon
2) That's the BIG question
3) I assume he was in another part of the house, when the fire broke out, and was trapped and had to run through the fire to escape.
It's not just tradition, it's a good idea.
-ccm
He died because of his own bad taste.
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