George I. Treyz, 76, died at his home in Amherst, Massachusetts on February 14th, 2013. He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Sidney, sons Victor and Frederick, brother Russell and six grandchildren.
For more than three decades, George Treyz was a pillar of the Economics Department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. After receiving degrees from Princeton (BA) and Cornell (PhD), he taught at Haverford College and came to UMass in 1968. He remained a pillar of the Economics program in Amherst until his retirement in 1997, and even beyond because he continued to teach from his position at Regional Economic Modeling, the Amherst-based company he founded in 1980.
A well-respected and valued teacher, Treyz is best known as a pioneer of computer-based regional economic models, the types of models now widely used by regional and national governments in assessing alternative economic policies. In the 1970’s, he worked with the Nobel Prize-winner Laurence Klein, along with Ann Friedlander and Benjamin Stevens, to develop the Massachusetts Economic Policy Analysis (MEPA) model. Later, he expanded and generalized the techniques developed for MEPA to develop the models used by REMI and by regional models used throughout the world. In 1994, Treyz and his colleagues developed the first multi-regional United States model consisting of the fifty states and District of Columbia.
Treyz and his colleagues published widely, disseminating their work so that it could be used by others. In 1993 he wrote Regional Economic Modeling: A Systemic Approach to Forecasting and Policy Analysis. Whether in Amherst, in his work to improve economic policy in Massachusetts or throughout the United States, or in the Economics Department, George Treyz was a conscientious and devoted citizen, always available to colleagues, students, or others who needed help. We were proud to have him as a colleague, and we will miss him.