Alan Krueger, former White House economist, dead at 58 from suicide

nydailynews.com ^ | March 18, 2019 | Gina Salamone

[John W]

Alan Krueger, a Princeton University economist and a top adviser under two Presidents, has died at age 58 after taking his own life.

“It is with tremendous sadness we share that Professor Alan B. Krueger, beloved husband, father, son, brother, and Princeton professor of economics took his own life over the weekend,” a statement from his family reads. “The family requests the time and space to grieve and remember him. In lieu of flowers, we encourage those wishing to honor Alan to make a contribution to the charity of their choice.”

His passing was initially announced Monday by Princeton, which praised him as “a true leader in his field, known and admired for both his research and teaching.”

Krueger was chief economist at the Department of Labor under President Clinton from 1994 to 1995, and chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama from 2011 to 2013.

[nascarnation]

There’s essentially a news blackout relative to cause of death or events leading to. A bit odd for a fairly high profile guy. That’s certainly his family’s privilege should they be the reason for it

[utahagen]

Don't know if there was anything criminal in this particular case, but certainly a danger of the normalization/acceptance of suicide is that suicides won't be rigorously investigated. Every suicide these days is reflexively explained as having been caused by “mental illness” and if the person had been highly functioning, as Krueger obviously was — working full time, writing his book — people define mental illness as “depression”, even if most people around him say they saw no signs of sadness or anxiety. A parallel would be what happened with SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome): a hundred years ago, not much was understood about it, and some parents were wrongfully suspected or even arrested when their children died of “Crib Death”. However, then the pendulum swung in the opposite direction and there have been women who were later suspected to have got away with murder. Google “Elliott Smith”, who died 15 years ago in Los Angeles, officially of suicide. Read everything you can find about in on the internet. I am one of MANY reasonable people who believe that Smith's girlfriend murdered him. And I'll tell you one thing: if everything had transpired exactly the same way in NYC instead of Los Angeles the night Smith died, his girlfriend at least would have been arrested that night.