Paul Samuelson

Paul Anthony Samuelson (May 15, 1915 – December 13, 2009) was an American economist of Jewish descent. He was the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Economics. 
The Swedish Royal Academies stated, when awarding the prize, that he "has done more than any other contemporary economist to raise the level of scientific analysis in economic theory". 
Economic historian Randall E. Parker calls him the "Father of Modern Economics", and "The New York Times" thinks of him to be the "foremost academic economist of the 20th century".
Samuelson died after a brief illness on December 13, 2009, at the age of 94.