Douglass North

Douglass Cecil North (November 5, 1920 – November 23, 2015) was an American economist. He is known for his work in economic history. In 1993, he received the Nobel Prize in Economics.
In the words of the Nobel Committee, North and Robert Fogel were awarded the prize "for having renewed research in economic history by applying economic theory and quantitative methods in order to explain economic and institutional change."
North was one of 20 Nobel Laureates who signed the "Stockholm memorandum" at the 3rd Nobel Laureate Symposium on Global Sustainability in Stockholm, Sweden on 18 May 2011.
North was born on November 5, 1920 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He studied at Washington University in St. Louis, and Stanford University, at the University of Washington, and at Cambridge University. North has three sons from a failed marriage. 
North died on November 23, 2015 at his summer house in Benzonia, Michigan the age of 95 from esophageal cancer.