Distinguished Professor Emeritus Lowell Gallaway Passes at Age 89

Dr. Lowell Gallaway

Dr. Lowell Eugene Gallaway, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Economics at Ohio University, died on Aug. 13, at age 89.

Following service in the U.S. Navy, Gallaway earned a Ph.D. in Economics from Ohio State University and began his academic career at Colorado State University. In 1958, his first academic journal article was published, launching an academic career that would span seven decades and total more than 500 publications.

Before arriving at Ohio University in 1967, Gallaway help posts at San Fernando Valley State College (now California State University at Northridge) and the University of Minnesota. “It is worth nothing that while living in Los Angeles, Lowell also served as a business consultant and was part owner of a small consulting firm,” notes his obituary. He also served as Chief in the Analytic Studies Section at the Social Security Administration, followed by a post at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was granted tenure.

“He accepted a position as Professor of Economics at Ohio University commencing with the academic year 1967-68. This became his permanent academic home. He retired from the university in 2002. In 1974, he was named Distinguished Professor of Economics,” says his obituary in the Athens Messenger.

He also had visiting posts at Lund University in Sweden, the University of Texas, the University of New South Wales in Australia (as a Fulbright Senior Scholar), the University of North Carolina, and the University College of Business Administration at Mara Institute in Malaysia.

In 1982 he was appointed to the staff of the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, serving the committee again in 1992 as a Senior Economist and Visiting Scholar.

“Lowell frequently was accorded special recognition for his academic work including: honorary membership in Phi Beta Kappa and Beta Gamma Sigma, being twice singled out for special recognition by the Ohio House of Representatives and having his biographical sketch included in the Marquis Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in The World. Further, his biography was selected to be a part of Who’s Who in Economics: A Biographical Dictionary of Major Economists, 1790 to The Present,” according to his obituary.

“Also, two of the seven books he authored or co-authored received special mentions. His 1973 book, Poverty in America was included in National Review’s Bicentennial Reading List and the 1993 tome Out of Work: Unemployment and Government in Twentieth Century America (co-authored with Dr. Richard Vedder) was awarded a Sir Antony Fisher International Memorial Award by the Atlas Economic Foundation and was included in the H.L. Mencken Awards conferred by the Free Press Association. Finally, in 2016, he was named a Distinguished Alumnus by Maumee (Ohio) High School.”