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Maxwell "Max" Fry
Professor, UH-Manoa Economics, 1974 - 1981
After receiving his PhD in economics at the London School of Economics in 1970, Max taught at The City University of London for 4 years. In 1974 he joined the Department of Economics at the University of Hawaii-Manoa as Associate Professor and immediately took on the job of running the Department's graduate program. Max brought an enormous amount of energy to the Department and especially the graduate program where his expertise in monetary and financial economics and economic development bolstered the core strengths of the Department. Soon he had graduate students estimating demand functions for money for just about every Asian country. Indeed, he elevated estimating demand for money into an industry. His own research on the role of money in economic development put him in an elite circle of scholars working in the area. Who can forgot this Brit, with his British accent and infectious laugh, who came to work in rubber slippers (zoris)--he bought a new pair every year--yet, was much sought after as a consultant by the OECD, the USAID, the UN, and the Central Banks of many countries. Max enjoyed being with people. He (violin) and wife Celia (cello) were also accomplished musicians, playing regularly with friends and members of the Honolulu Symphony. He loved to eat, but never really took to the steamed white rice in Hawaii, which he dubbed the "glutinous stuff." He loved fried rice, though. Max left for UC-Irvine in 1980 and shortly after that he accepted an endowed chair at the University of Birmingham (UK). He passed away in 2000 from a brain tumor. Those of us who worked and played with him miss him very much.
James Mak
Honolulu, Hawaii
March 2006
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