Youngest Nobel Awardee Kenneth J. Arrow Dies at 95

By Jenia Cane / 1487881399
Youngest Nobel Awardee Kenneth J. Arrow Dies at 95

The youngest-ever Nobel Prize awardee Kenneth J. Arrow has died at the age of 95 on Tuesday at his home in Palo, Alto. While the cause of his death was not divulged, his son stated that the economist lived a full life.

In 1972, the former economics professor for 11 years at the Harvard University received the Nobel memorial prize in economic science. He shared the award with British economist Sir John R. Hicks. They worked together for the mathematical model of general equilibrium theory.

This particular work of Kenneth J. Arrow and co-author is responsible for the economic mantra that says "there is an overall balance between supply and demand in an economy as a whole."

"He was a very loving, caring father and a very, very humble man. He'd do the dishes every night and cared about people very much," his son David Arrow said. "I think in his academic career, when people talk about it, it often sounds like numbers and probabilities. But a large focus of his work was how people matter," he added. "The fact that people often don't behave rationally ... that was one aspect that he often looked at, how it affected the lives of the people."

Kenneth J. Arrow first became popular in 1951 for his book "Social Choice and Individual Values." This book talked about the importance of mathematical logic in decision-making as a group.

Born on Aug. 23, 1921, in the Big Apple to Jewish parents who came all the way from Romania, Arrow spent most of his career at Stanford University. Arrow's son noted that he takes pride in the fact that his interest in everything brought him to discover some things, including the 1963 paper on the economics of medical care and health insurance.