Alan Greenspan, the long-serving Federal Reserve chairman who steered the U.S. economy for nearly two decades, has passed away at the age of 100 due to complications from Parkinson’s disease. Remembered by his wife, Andrea Mitchell, as a man of deep intellect and kindness, Greenspan’s tenure from 1987 to 2006 was defined by both unprecedented prosperity and intense scrutiny. He is perhaps best remembered for overseeing the second-longest economic expansion in American history and for his "maestro" status, which grew from his ability to navigate crises like the 1987 Black Monday crash and the 1990s tech boom with a uniquely intuitive, if often cryptic, approach to monetary policy.

However, his legacy remains a subject of heated debate among economists and historians. While he was once celebrated as the greatest central banker of his time, his reputation suffered significantly following the 2007-2009 financial crisis. Critics pointed to his philosophy of light-touch financial regulation and his reliance on the belief that markets would naturally self-correct as key factors that allowed the housing bubble to spiral out of control. Despite his later admission of "shocked disbelief" regarding the failures of banking institutions, his career remains a complex case study in the power and limitations of economic judgment, marking the end of a transformative era in American finance.