Dr. George Edward Cave of West New York, son of the late George Thomas Cave and the late Leatha Willa Cave, née Shelton, passed away at age 71 on April 18, 2018 in Washington DC.

While attending Memorial High School, George was President of the General Student Organization, a National Merit Scholar, and graduated as valedictorian of his class. In 1964, George was presented a distinguished medallion at the White House by President Lyndon Johnson for the first historic Presidential Scholars Award. George graduated from Harvard University with an A.B. in Government and International Relations, and received a PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago, specializing in Labor and Mathematical Economics. George worked as an Actuarial Analyst at Allstate Insurance and an Assistant Professor of Economics & Afro-American Studies at Princeton University. George had an illustrious career as a Senior Research Associate in the social and public policy research industry, most recently at Summit Consulting. His extensive education and experience made George a well sought-after consulting economist on methodological issues.

Alan J. Salzberg, PhD, was George’s colleague at Summit Consulting. He said, “I had the pleasure of working with George over the last several years of his life. George was a man of great intelligence and insight, right up until the end. Though we have many PhD’s in Economics and Statistics, we all knew he was the person to go to when an especially difficult technical question came up. If you walked up to his desk to ask him, he would quickly refer you to two or three texts on the subject. If you were lazy and sent him an email, then your “homework” assignment would get larger: he would write a short essay with half a dozen or more good references, and bunch of great ideas on how to solve the problem. And he never tired of the desire to learn—if you wanted to find George at lunchtime, the Georgetown Law library, right across the street from our office, was always a good bet. On the personal side, although he worked in a high pressure environment, George seemed immune to the pressures and was always even-tempered and good-humored. He epitomized the humble scholar who engaged ideas forcefully, but without criticizing his colleagues. He will be greatly missed.”

George was preceded in death by his sister, Lillian J. Cave. He is survived by his sister, Peggy Cave-Harriott, of Florida.

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Expanded from an obituary published in The Jersey Journal on May 12, 2018