A Remembrance of Robert Black
1927 – 2024
Robert (Bob) P. Black, the fifth president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, passed away on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. He was president from 1973 through 1992.
Born in Hickman, Ky., Black moved to Virginia in 1945 to study at the University of Virginia. After his first year at school, he was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1946 and served in the infantry. He then returned to the University of Virginia to earn his bachelor's degree, master's degree, and doctorate in economics. He completed his dissertation while working at the Richmond Fed in 1954. Black then taught for a year at the University of Tennessee before returning to the Richmond Fed in 1956 as an economist. He went on to become assistant vice president, vice president, and first vice president. On Aug. 6, 1973, he became president of the Richmond Fed, the first economist to serve in that position.
Black's tenure as president began during a challenging time for the Fed. The United States had gone off the gold standard two years earlier, and inflation was on the rise. A proponent of the monetarist school of economic thought, which argues that the supply of money determines the long-run price level, Black advocated for the Fed to do more to restore price stability and developed a reputation as an "inflation hawk." In 1990, he testified in support of House Joint Resolution 409, which would have required the Fed to achieve an inflation rate of zero within five years of passage.
"Bob was an inflation hawk's inflation hawk," says J. Alfred Broaddus, who served as an economist and research director under Black before succeeding Black as president in 1993. "He understood the great damage high inflation could do to our economy and society by undermining the broader public's confidence in the Fed's commitment to protecting the purchasing power of everyday people's wages and savings."
At a time when it was still uncommon for Reserve Bank leaders to be economists, Black worked closely with the Richmond Fed's research department to develop his policy positions.
"Richmond was the first of the regional Banks to formulate its recommendations for monetary policy through open debate between the Bank president and all the economists in the research department," says Robert L. Hetzel, who was an economist at the Richmond Fed from 1975 to 2018.
Black is also remembered as a kind and respectful leader who took great interest in the well-being of all Bank employees. In 1978, he presided over the Richmond Fed's move to its current headquarters overlooking the James River.
"All of us privileged to know and work with Bob will remember him as a wonderful person, a great friend and mentor, and a strong leader," says Broaddus.