It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Richard A. Easterlin (Dick).

It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Richard A. Easterlin (Dick). He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1953 with Simon Kuznets as his principal advisor and served on the faculty here from 1953 to 1982, during which time he chaired the economics department for six years, served as SAS Associate Dean for Budget and Planning and played an instrumental role in the development of the Population Studies Center. He then moved to the University of Southern California. Easterlin was in particular known for his 1974 article "Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence" and the Easterlin paradox in which he argued that contrary to expectations, happiness at a national level does not increase with income over time. He is also known for the Easterlin hypothesis, which states that the relationship between income and fertility is dependent on intergenerational relative income. He was an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of the National Academy of Sciences, and of the Econometric Society and was awarded the Distinguished Researcher Award by the International Society for Quality of Life Studies , was elected a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association , was awarded the IZA Prize in Labor Economics from the Institute for the Study of Labor, the Irene B. Taeuber Award by the Population Association of America and the Laureate Award from the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population.