Bradford, David F(rantz) 1939-2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born January 8, 1939, in Cambridge, MA; died of burns suffered in a house fire February 22, 2005, in Philadelphia, PA. Economist, educator, and author. Bradford was an expert on taxation and devised a system called the X tax, a form of graduated flat tax that also eliminated taxes on interest from personal savings. Earning his B.A. from Amherst College in 1960, he completed a master's degree at Harvard University in 1962 and then attended Churchill College, Cambridge, for a year. His first job was as a consultant for the U.S. secretary of defense. He then returned to school to complete his Ph.D. at Stanford University in 1966. Bradford next embarked on an academic career, joining the Princeton University faculty as an assistant professor. He would remain there throughout his career, becoming a full professor of economics and public affairs in 1975. He served several terms as associate dean of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and was acting dean in 1980 and 1987. Bradford's expertise was also drawn on by the federal government; from 1975 to 1976 he was deputy assistant secretary for tax policy for the U.S. Treasury; from 1991 to 1993 he served on the White House Council of Economic Advisers. One of his most significant accomplishments, though, was publishing the second edition of Blueprints for Basic Tax Reform (1984), which has been credited as a major influence on President Ronald Reagan's tax reforms of 1986. Bradford was also the author of Untangling the Income Tax (1986). In addition to his work at Princeton, he was a visiting professor of law at Harvard University in 1991, an adjunct professor at New York University's law school in 1993, and director of research in taxation at the National Bureau of Economic Research from 1977 until 1991.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Los Angeles Times, February 24, 2005, p. B11.

New York Times, February 24, 2005, p. C17.

Washington Post, February 27, 2005, p. C8.