John Kenneth Galbraith dead at 97

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 1 (UPI) -- John Kenneth Galbraith, a noted U.S. economist who introduced price controls as a part of Franklin Roosevelt's administration, has died.

Galbraith, who was 97, died of natural causes Saturday at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Mass., his family said.

Over the years he became a fixture among U.S. political and social elites, a liberal Democratic policy adviser and a persuasive advocate of the views of British economist John Maynard Keynes.

Galbraith was born Oct. 15, 1908, in Iona Station, Ontario, the son of a farmer and teacher. He earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Toronto in 1931 and a doctorate at the University of California in 1934, the year he began teaching at Harvard University.

He became a U.S. citizen in 1937 and that year married Catherine Atwater. They had four sons, Alan, Peter, James and Douglas, and owned several homes in New England.

During World War II, Galbraith was deputy administrator in the Office of Price Administration where he defended permanent price controls.

He also was president of Americans for Democratic Action and campaigned for Eugene McCarthy. Galbraith once told Harvard students: "If you can't comfort the afflicted, then afflict the comfortable."