Angell was born in
Liberal, Kansas on June 28, 1930. He graduated from
Ottawa University, from the
University of Kansas with an M.A. in 1953, and a Ph.D. in 1954. He taught at Ottawa University from 1959 to 1985. He was elected to the Kansas State House of Representatives, in 1960. He ran for the
U.S. House of Representatives in 1966 and the
U.S. Senate in 1978, losing in the Republican primaries to
Larry Winn and
Nancy Landon Kassebaum, respectively. Angell served as a Governor of the
Federal Reserve Board from 1986 to 1994. He left to become a Chief Economist and Senior Managing Director for
Bear Sterns & Co., Inc., where he served until 2002. He opened a consultancy, Angell Economics. Angell was a frequent economics commentator on
CNBC's "
Kudlow & Company", "Fast Money", and appeared on "Charlie Rose". A chair in economics has been named for him at Ottawa University. Angell and his wife, Betty, lived in
Laguna Beach, California, and had four children and nine grandchildren. He died at his home in Laguna Beach, on April 19, 2025, at the age of 94. ==References==