re: Butler Shaffer, R.I.P.

We friends of Butler Shaffer are all deeply saddened by the passing of this great man yesterday.  The last time I saw Butler was at the Mises Institute’s 35th anniversary conference in New York City.  He wasn’t very talkative that night, but he was sitting with a big smile on his face taking it all in.  He must have been marvelling at the enormous size and support for the ideas of freedom — the hallmark of Mises Institute scholarship — that were on display with that very large crowd.  That was my thought at the time as I saw the old lion of the libertarian world, who toiled away almost alone beginning in the 1950s when one could count the number of libertarian academics without running out of fingers and toes.

I have long had the deepest respect for Butler’s scholarship, and he and I also communicated off and on to share word games, something his children probably rolled their eyes at as “old man jokes!”  He was very good at it.

God bless and rest in peace old friend.  Your family is in our thoughts and prayers.

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