Harry Schwartz (September 10, 1919 – November 10, 2004) was an editorial writer for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' from 1951 to 1979 and a specialist in

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

and

East European Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whi ...

affairs.

Biography

Schwartz was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

on September 10, 1919, and was the valedictorian of his graduating class at Columbia College in 1940. He received his master's and doctorate from Columbia in 1941 and 1944, respectively. In 1942, Schwartz joined the

War Production Board The War Production Board (WPB) was an agency of the United States government that supervised war production during World War II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established it in January 1942, with Executive Order 9024. The WPB replaced the Su ...

and the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

as an economist. He was drafted into the army in 1943 but was transferred to the Office of Strategic Services and sent to Europe as a specialist in Soviet economic affairs before being discharged as first lieutenant in 1945. He joined Syracuse University in 1946 as a professor of economics and joined the staff of ''

'' in 1951 as a full-time editorial writer. He was also a visiting professor at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons and a Distinguished Professor of the State University of New York at New Paltz. Despite having never been to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, Schwartz was the author of 22 books and thousands of articles, and widely lectured on the subject of Soviet Economic policies, before switching his focus to healthcare economics. Schwartz died on November 10, 2004, at his home in New Rochelle, New York at age 85.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwartz, Harry 1919 births 2004 deaths The New York Times writers 20th-century American writers Columbia College (New York) alumni Writers from New York City Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Syracuse University faculty Columbia University faculty State University of New York at New Paltz faculty 20th-century American economists