William Nordhaus: key obituary facts
Is William Nordhaus dead? Yes. William Nordhaus died on October 30, 2026, at age 85.
Cause of death: William Nordhaus's cause of death was reported as Brain cancer.
What was William Nordhaus known for?
He was an American economist (1941-).
More about William Nordhaus
Born: 31 May 1941.
Place of birth: Albuquerque.
Gender: male.
Occupation: economist, university teacher, docent, academic.
Nationality: United States.
Education: Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Clare Hall, Phillips Academy.
Employer: Yale University.
Awards: Sterling Professor, BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award, Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association, Fellow of the Econometric Society, Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Clarivate Citation Laureates, Carnegie Fellow.
Also known as: William Dawbney Nordhaus, William D. Nordhaus, W. D. Nordhaus, W D Nordhaus, W. Nordhaus, W Nordhaus, William D Nordhaus.
William Nordhaus, an American economist and Nobel Prize laureate, died of brain cancer on October 30, 2026, aged 85.
A Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University, he joined the university’s faculty in 1967 and researched economic modeling and the long-term economic implications of climate change. In 2018, Nordhaus received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis.
Born William Dawbney Nordhaus in Albuquerque on May 31, 1941, he attended Phillips Academy in Andover before studying at Yale, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1963 and a master’s degree in 1972. He received a doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1967 and a certificate from the Institut d’Études Politiques in 1962. From 1970 to 1971, he was a visiting fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge. His parents were Virginia (Riggs) Nordhaus and Robert J. Nordhaus, who co-founded the Sandia Peak Tramway. His paternal grandfather, Max Nordhaus, immigrated from Paderborn, Germany, in 1883 and later managed a branch of the Charles Ilfeld Company in Albuquerque. The Nobel recognition reflected Nordhaus’s work incorporating climate change into economic analysis over long time horizons.