CSIS mourns the loss of our colleague Sidney Weintraub

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) mourns the loss of our dear colleague Sidney Weintraub, 91, who died peacefully on April 10 at his vacation home in Cuernavaca, Mexico. From 1994-2011 Dr. Weintraub held the Simon Chair in Political Economy at CSIS.

After combat service as a tactical interrogator in Europe during World War II and a stint as a journalist, Dr. Weintraub pursued three related careers:  26 years as a Foreign Service Officer and U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Finance and Development; 18 years as a professor of economics and public policy at the LBJ School of the University of Texas at Austin (and founding director of the LBJ School's Program in U.S.-Mexican Policy Studies); and as previously mentioned 17 years at CSIS in Washington.

Dr. Weintraub was the author of many books and articles as well as two mystery novels; his work on U.S.-Mexican relations helped, among other things, to lay the intellectual foundations for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).  In 2006 the Mexican government awarded him the Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest decoration granted by Mexico to foreigners.

Born in Brooklyn in 1922, Dr. Weintraub attended P.S. 167 and Tilden High School and received his B.A. from CCNY, then later obtained an M.A. in economics from Yale University and, in 1966, a Ph.D. in economics from American University.

Dr. Weintraub was predeceased in 2001 by his wife of 55 years, Gladys Weintraub, and is survived by his wife of 10 years, Elizabeth Midgley; three children, Jeff Weintraub, Marcia Weintraub Plunkett, and Deborah Weintraub Chilewich; five grandchildren; and a great-grandson.