Frank, Isaiah 1917-2006
Frank, Isaiah 1917-2006
(Isaiah Isserles Frank)
OBITUARY NOTICE—
See index for CA sketch: Born November 7, 1917, in New York, NY; died of prostate cancer, May 26, 2006, in Washington, DC. Economist, educator, and author. Frank was a former economist for the State Department and a Johns Hopkins University professor who was considered an authority on international trade. His undergraduate work was completed at the City College of the City University of New York in 1936; this was followed by graduate studies at Columbia University, where he finished his master's degree in 1938; later, in 1960, he completed his Ph.D. at Columbia. He then taught at Amherst College for two years before being hired as an economics consultant for the War Production Board. From 1942 until 1944, Frank was a senior economist for the Office of Strategic Services; he enlisted in the U.S. Army, serving as a first lieutenant until the end of the war. Returning home, he joined the U.S. Department of State staff, where he served in various posts in America and abroad, leaving in 1963 as deputy assistant secretary of state for economic affairs. Among his significant government posts were service as director of international economic studies for the Commission on Economic Development for thirty-five years, executive director of the President's Commission on International Trade and Investment Policy from 1970 to 1971, and membership in the advisory committee on international economic policy for the Department of State. He joined the Johns Hopkins faculty in 1963, becoming William L. Clayton professor of international economics at the School of Advanced International Studies. Frank was the author or editor of several books, including Foreign Enterprises in Developing Countries (1980), Finance and Third- World Economic Growth (1988), Breaking New Ground in U.S. Trade Policy (1991), U.S. Trade Policy beyond the Uruguay Round (1994), and U.S. Trade Policy toward the Asia-Pacific Region (1997).