|Peter Boettke|
Kurt Schuler, John Hagel and Chuck Moulton organized an online tribute to honor Walter Grinder on his 75th birthday. As mentioned in several of the tributes, Walter played a vital role in shaping the intellectual personality and agenda of many young scholars in my generation. To those of us interested in Austrian economics, Walter's influence wasn't just his personal coaching, but also his own writings.
The Society for Development of Austrian Economics (SDAE) recognized a few years ago Leonard Liggio for his role in promoting Austrian economics through his work as a scholar, teacher, and mentor. The Institute for Humane Studies that I grew up with reflected the character and intellectual temperament of these two wonderful men. I owe so much to both men for what they taught me, and for the opportunities to learn from others that they provided me. While I was a Claude Lambe Fellow at the Center for the Study of Market Processes (rather than through IHS), I was a summer fellow for 2 summers in the mid-1980s, and attended several summer seminars. Rosemary (my wife) worked at IHS for 2 years as well during this same time.
After receiving my PhD, IHS continued to support my efforts to build an academic career and arranged for me to give talks in Europe and at various college campuses. IHS worked with me to improve my dissertation and shape it into an academic book, as well as pursue the journal publication strategy that is so vital to young academics. Wherever I turned, either Walter or Leonard were there with a word of encouragement, advice on how I could improve, and support to keep striving to achieve a leveraged academic position.
If you look at my academic cohort who worked closely with IHS through those years, many have gone on to have significant academic careers. And many of these reflect research ideas that were given to them by Walter Grinder. He always had suggestions for books to read, questions to ask, and puzzles to solve. I can remember conversations with him in the Harper Library or the Tallwood House property about issues that I am still pursuing and encouraging the graduate students working with me to pursue.
Happy Birthday Walter, and thank you for everything you did for me and all the others that came under your influence at IHS.
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