Jeremy Gold
Jeremy Gold | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 November 1942 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | 6 July 2018 (aged 75) |
| Occupation(s) | Actuary, economist |
| Known for | Promoting integration of financial economics into pension actuarial methodologies; critical examination of actuarial standards and ethics |
Jeremy Edward Gold (November 28, 1942 – July 6, 2018) was a prominent American actuary and economist recognized for promoting the integration of financial economics into pension actuarial methodologies and for his critical examination of actuarial standards and professional ethics.
Biography
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Gold was the son of Sarah and Edward Gold, both educators specializing in high-school English. He was raised in Manhattan's Lower East Side neighborhood and completed his studies at Stuyvesant High School by age 16. Gold then pursued mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but after three years, he paused his academic journey to travel before ultimately obtaining a bachelor's degree from Pace College (now Pace University) in 1969.
Gold spent twenty years working as a pension actuary with Alexander & Alexander (which was later incorporated into Aon) and Buck Consultants. During the 1980s, he became one of the earliest actuaries to join Wall Street when he took a position at Morgan Stanley. At that time, numerous companies were subject to leveraged buyouts partly because pension plans held surplus funds that buyers could access after these transactions.
He critically examined the reasons pension plans amassed significant surpluses despite ongoing actuarial counsel. Gold noted that while financial economics concepts had become standard in broader finance sectors, pension actuaries continued using outdated techniques that failed to account for asset valuation and interest rate fluctuations adequately.
In 1995, at the age of 53, Gold enrolled at the Wharton School to deepen his research aimed at reforming pension actuarial practices. Upon earning his doctorate in 2000, he emerged as a strong proponent for incorporating financial economics frameworks into pension actuarial work and advocated for enhanced professional standards.
His ideas received a variety of responses from pension actuaries and sponsoring entities but gradually gained traction. By 2013, Moody's Investors Service ceased relying on actuaries’ pension liability figures for government plans, choosing instead to calculate liabilities independently. The Governmental Accounting Standards Board started mandating more market-reflective interest rates for liability assessments. Additionally, the Actuarial Standards Board progressively adopted principles aligned with Gold’s recommendations.
Gold passed away on July 6, 2018, at age 75 due to complications from myelodysplastic syndrome and leukemia.
See also
Works by Gold
- Collection of papers and presentations by Jeremy Gold
- Jeremy Gold, "Where Are the Screaming Actuaries?", 2015.
About Gold
- Elizabeth Bauer, "Public Pension Funding Crisis: Who Was Jeremy Gold and Why Should You Care?", Forbes.com, July 17, 2018.
- Mary Pat Campbell, "RIP, Jeremy Gold: An Actuarial Memorial", STUMP, July 15, 2018.
- Mark Glennnon, "A 'Nonlinear' Life: R.I.P., Jeremy Gold", July 13, 2018.
- Evan Inglis, "In Memory of Dr. Jeremy Gold", Society of Actuaries, July 2018.
- "In Memoriam: Jeremy Gold", Conference of Consulting Actuaries.
- 1942 births
- 2018 deaths
- Deaths from myelodysplastic syndrome
- 20th-century American economists
- 21st-century American economists
- American actuaries
- Social scientists from Brooklyn
- American financial economists
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni
- Morgan Stanley employees
- Pace University alumni
- People from the Lower East Side
- Stuyvesant High School alumni
- Wharton School alumni
- Mathematicians from Brooklyn