The members of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation ("LAEDC") are mourning the passing of our founding economist and our good friend, Jack Kyser.
His passing is not only a loss personally, and for the LAEDC, but for the County and the region as a whole.
He was a great teacher of practical economics, analyzing and then explaining what made the Los Angeles region's economy tick -- in plain English. He called trends long before others saw them coming. Jack has been hailed as every LA reporter's go-to source for a quote on the local economy, and as the "guru of the Southern California economy".
Jack cared deeply about the people of Southern California and their well-being. He was our champion: a strong advocate for doing economically rational things to promote the LA region's businesses and jobs.
During the nearly 20 years he worked with the LAEDC, he helped us understand the drivers of our local economy. As importantly, he also helped us engage with varied stakeholders to implement sound policies to promote the LAEDC’s ultimate goal: to provide everyone in our region who wants or needs a job with a job.
After he retired from the LAEDC earlier this year, he continued his work of explaining in understandable terms the economic forces driving Southern California, and promoting economic growth and jobs for our people as economic spokesman for the Southern California Association of Governments. As recently as last Thursday, Jack was laying out the road to economic recovery at an economic summit sponsored by SCAG and attended by many business and governmental leaders, including the LAEDC.
Jack was kind as well as intelligent: a gentleman in the best sense of the word. Jack treated every person he came into contact with as important. Among many, many others, he befriended me when I was a young volunteer with the LAEDC, and was a true and quietly loyal friend for the 12 years I worked with him, most recently in my ongoing term as Chairman of the LAEDC. He had a terrific sense of humor -- and an abiding love of chocolate.
We miss him. We will continue to miss him both as an advocate and explainer, and as a friend.
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