An accomplished career in economics and a vigorous passion for the environment and outdoor activities marked the life of Raymond Mikesell, emeritus professor of economics, colleagues and friends said at a memorial service Saturday.
They characterized Mikesell, who died Sept. 12 in Eugene at age 93, as a man who always strove to reach his full potential.
Mikesell taught at the University from 1957 until 1993, remaining an active emeritus professor until his death.
Economics professor Bill Harbaugh said Mikesell’s contributions to the economics field included his work for the federal government at the Bretton Woods conference in July 1944. At the conference, delegates from Allied countries laid plans for the post-World War II economy and set the foundations for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
Mikesell served as an adviser to then-Assistant Treasury Secretary Harry Dexter White at the conference and provided data for White to use against British economist John Maynard Keynes’ attempts to preserve British interests, Harbaugh said.
“There were some economists who would have been worried to be on the opposite side of an argument of John Maynard Keynes, but Professor Mikesell was not a timid man,” Harbaugh said.
Friends noted Mikesell’s passion for the outdoors and his love of skiing and hiking. Economics professor Joe Stone said that much of Mikesell’s joy came from his outdoor pursuits, which he tried to share with faculty and students.
“For many years, Ray’s welcome to newly arrived junior faculty was an invitation to go hiking or skiing with him,” Stone said. “Make no mistake, this was a task he intended you to flunk as you fell further and further behind him.”
Gary Tepfer said he started hiking as a child with Mikesell in 1958 and noticed that Mikesell loved a competitive physical challenge and that he never seemed to slow down, even when he was hiking uphill. Tepfer said that when Mikesell took new colleagues out hiking with him, few of them would go on a second trip.
“I like to remember Ray’s love of being in the mountains and his good spirits even in the most trying of circumstances,” Tepfer said.
Stone said Mikesell’s legacy at the University is supervising more than 50 Ph.D. students. Mikesell also fought against mandatory retirement, which was still a policy at the time, by writing a letter in 1977 to then-University President William Boyd in which he highlighted his active professional and academic life, Stone said.
Former student Marcos Farah said he returned to the University for his Ph.D. in 1975, hoping to work with Mikesell but worried that the professor would retire. When Farah voiced his concerns to the economics department head, the administrator told Farah that Mikesell “would never retire.”
Mikesell worked throughout his career on the use of natural resources and endowed the Raymond F. Mikesell Chair of Environmental and Resource Economics “to ensure that his passion for the environment and natural resource problems would be a continuing part of our department,” Stone said.
Mikesell also served in the State Department as a senior economist for the Council of Economic Advisors and as a consultant to the United Nations, the World Bank, the Organization of American States and the Committee of Foreign Relations.
He previously taught at the University of Washington and the University of Virginia before coming to the University.
“He managed to continue his research and writing, hiking, skiing and tennis into his 90s,” Tepfer said. “Ray told me many years ago that he didn’t want to live if he couldn’t do the things in life that he enjoyed.”
Mikesell is survived by his third wife, three stepchildren and four grandchildren.