Ex-Ford Motor Company President Arjay Miller and Frances Fearing Miller Endow Chair in Federal Economic Policy at the Brookings Institution

Arjay Miller, former president of the Ford Motor Company and dean emeritus of the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, and his wife Frances Fearing Miller have pledged a $1.5 million endowment to create the new Chair in Federal Economic Policy at The Brookings Institution, Brookings President Michael H. Armacost announced today.

Armacost also announced that William G. Gale, a Senior Fellow in the Brookings Economic Studies program and a former senior staff economist for President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisers, has been named as the first holder of the Arjay and Frances Miller Chair in Federal Economic Policy. Gale earned his Ph.D. at Stanford University and taught at UCLA.

Armacost noted that “Arjay Miller performed distinguished service as a Brookings Trustee over many years. With this marvelous gift, he and Frances are establishing an even more durable legacy which will help the Institution preserve its place at the forefront of public debate on national economic policy.”

And, Armacost said, based on both Gale’s service at the CEA and his academic work on public finance, his selection was “a natural choice in a light of his distinguished record of research and publications, and a timely one in view of the current focus of the federal government on fiscal and budgetary issues.” Robert E. Litan, Vice President and Director of the Brookings Economic Studies Program, said the Millers’ gift “will make an enormous contribution” to the Institution’s independent research and analysis on economic policy.

In a related appointment, Peter R. Orszag, Senior Fellow in the Brookings Economic Studies program, was named the Joseph A. Pechman Fellow in that program, succeeding Gale, who held the position for ten years. Arjay Miller, a World War II Army Air Corps veteran, received his degree in economics from UCLA, as did his wife Frances. Miller spent 23 years with the Ford Motor Company, including five years as president, from 1963-1969. He was dean and professor of management at the Stanford School of Business from 1969-1979, before becoming dean emeritus.

Miller served as a member of the Brookings Board of Trustees from 1964 to 1985, at which time he became an honorary Trustee and a member of the Brookings Council.