John Kenneth Galbraith: 1908-2006

Just four days after the passing of urban planning visionary Jane Jacobs, another of the greatest intellects ever to emerge from Canada has died this weekend.

John Kenneth Galbraith, considered one of the most influential economists of the 20th Century, died yesterday at a hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the Sunday edition of the New York Times reports.

He was 97.

Galbraith's death was attributed to natural causes.

He was admitted to hospital two weeks ago.

Galbraith was born in 1908 in Iona Station, Ontario, hardly five miles from the spot where the worst mass murder in Ontario history was discovered earlier this month.

He became a U.S. citizen in 1937 and went on to serve in the Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

Galbraith wrote approximately 50 books, including his 1958 bestseller The Affluent Society and a little-known 1963 treasure called The Scotch that humourously and lovingly described his upbringing in a unique part of rural Ontario.

The candour of the latter volume alienated many folk in Iona Station and nearby Dutton, where Galbraith attended high school.

He atoned partially for his literary sins by returning to Canada at his own expense in 1993 to give a lecture at the University of Western Ontario with proceeds supporting what is now the John Kenneth Galbraith Reference Library in Dutton (population 1,100).

Official website of the John Kenneth Galbraith Reference Library

To see what books by John Kenneth Galbraith are available at the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library (you may reserve your favourite title online using your library card), please click here.