Died in Washington, D.C.

Alice Rivlin died on May 14, 2019, in Washington, D.C., at the age of 88. Her death was widely mourned across the political spectrum, reflecting her decades-long reputation as a fiercely nonpartisan, rigorous economic thinker who worked to promote sound budgetary practice under presidents and congressional leaders of both parties.

Tributes poured in from institutions including the Brookings Institution, where she had spent much of her career as a scholar, and the Federal Reserve, where she had served as Vice Chair. Colleagues and policymakers praised her as a pioneering woman in economics and public administration who broke numerous barriers, including being the first woman to direct the Congressional Budget Office and the first to head the Office of Management and Budget.

Her death marked the end of an era for a generation of Washington economists who prized bipartisan, evidence-based policymaking. She was remembered not only for her intellectual contributions but for mentoring generations of younger economists and policy analysts, particularly women entering a field long dominated by men.

Her legacy lives on through the institutions she helped build and the countless policymakers she influenced and trained throughout her nearly six-decade career in public service and economic research.