I HEARD the old, old men say,
'Everything alters,
'All that's beautiful drifts away
Like the waters.'
William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
Professor Theodore Morgan, a former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ceylon passed away on February 8th in Madison Wisconsin. He was 98 years and 8 months.
Professor Morgan was invited to join the Central Bank by his Harvard colleague John Exter, the first Governor of the Central Bank. He served as Advisor of the Central Bank from 1951 to 52 and as Deputy Governor in 1952-53.
Professor Morgan often recalled his days in Colombo with much passion He had close ties with Mr. Douglas Gunasekera and family, Mr. N.U.Jayawardena and Dr. Gamani Corea, among others. Among the Sri Lankan students he supervised for their Ph.D.s were the former Governor of the Central Bank, the Late Dr. Warnasena Rasaputram and the Late Dr. Gamini Abeysekera, Resident Representative of UNICEF in Thailand, a former Chairman of the NSB and Director of Rural Credit at the Central Bank.
Ted was Professor of Economics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison since 1947 except for the period in Sri Lanka (1951-53). Prior to his tenure at the University of Wisconsin, he taught at the University of Hawaii and Harvard University. In addition to the two years in Sri Lanka, he spent seven years teaching and advising abroad, mainly in Indonesia, Singapore, and Thailand.
He has written a number of books in economics. Among them are: Introduction to Economics (1930&1936); Economic Development: Concept and Strategy (1976); Income and Employment(1949&1952), Hawaii, A Century of Economic Change (1948), Economic Interdependence in Southeast Asia, (Seadag papers on problems of development in Southeast Asia, no. 13) (1967).
It was my privilege to have known him and his wife Cathy since 1970. He would often take me boating on the lakes in Wisconsin. During my last visit with him in September-October last year, he recited long lines of poetry from W.B.Yeats and A.C. Swinburne, two of his favourite poets. Ted also had a M.A. degree in English Literature and taught English at Harvard before he obtained his Ph.D. in Economics.
Nimal Sanderatne |
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