Robert J. Samuelson, who sought to explain the implications of unemployment, inflation and government spending to ordinary readers for more than 40 years as an economics columnist for The Washington Post and Newsweek, died Dec. 13, reports Matt Schudel of The Post.
Schudel writes, “Quiet and unassuming, with a bushy mustache and thick bifocals, Mr. Samuelson rarely attended Georgetown parties or appeared on television. Yet his views were known among leaders in business and at the highest levels of government, and brought him three Gerald Loeb Awards for financial journalism and four National Headliner Awards.
“Former Post publisher Donald Graham said that Paul Volcker, who later served as chairman of the Federal Reserve, once asked him about Mr. Samuelson. ‘I said he was a college contemporary,’ Graham recalled in an email, ‘and Volcker said ‘Really? He’s a young guy? I thought he was this crusty old guy who had seen everything.’’
“Mr. Samuelson joined The Post in 1969, starting out as a business reporter. He later worked as a freelance writer before becoming a columnist for the National Journal, which was then a weekly magazine known for deep-dive probes of Congress and federal policymaking. He began contributing to The Post in 1977 and, afterward, to Newsweek, which was then owned by The Washington Post Co.”
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