Dominick Salvatore, PhD, a renowned economist and Fordham distinguished professor of economics whose textbook International Economics has been taught around the world, died of complications from pneumonia at NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester hospital on Jan. 27, surrounded by family. He was 85.
Salvatore began at Fordham in the fall of 1970 and retired in August 2024, directing both the graduate economics program and the Global Economic Policy Center over his 54-year career. His impressive accomplishments include being nominated for a National Medal of Science; consulting for the United Nations, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund; and holding visiting professorships on four continents. He was the author of 65 books, including his influential primer, International Economics, now in its 13th edition and translated into 11 languages. He also published frequently in academic journals and delivered more than 600 lectures in the U.S. and abroad.
Gathering Great Economic Minds
Henry Schwalbenberg, PhD, associate professor of economics and director of Fordham’s International Political Economy and Development program (IPED), which was formed in part by Salvatore, said his colleague’s applied economic research helped set up the intellectual foundation for globalization, as well as the economic liberalization policies of the 1980s.
Showing that protectionist trade policies undermine the growth of developing countries was his major contribution to the study of economics, said Schwalbenberg, who was hired by Salvatore.
One of Salvatore’s great contributions to Fordham was inviting his Nobel Prize-winning friends—such as John Nash, made famous by the book and biopic A Beautiful Mind, and Amartya Sen, whose research in welfare economics helped redefine the measurement of poverty—to speak at the University. (He gathered even more Nobel Laureates for the panel discussions he organized at the American Economic Association’s annual meetings.)
Providing access to the country’s top economists and regaling his students with stories about them made Salvatore so popular, said Schwalbenberg, the department once moved his class to an undesirable time of day so students would start taking other professors’ classes. “It didn’t work,” said Schwalbenberg.
Salvatore was also “beloved by the facilities staff,” said Schwalbenberg, because of the deep respect he had for the people who make the University work.
Respected Around the World
Senior economics lecturer Mary Burke, PhD, an early student of Salvatore’s, said his classes were so organized and clear, she held on to her notes. In the spring of 2024, when she was asked to finish teaching one of his classes due to his failing health, “I dug them out and referred to them,” she said.
Burke credits Salvatore with fostering connections with other universities. He helped establish the exchange program between students from Fordham and the University of Pretoria in South Africa that continues today. A Pretoria economics professor from the first cohort told Fordham Now in 2010 that it was a “thrill” to meet Salvatore, the author of the textbook that he routinely used in his classes.
Alberto Costantiello, PhD, professor of economics at LUM University in southern Italy, was both an admirer and a research partner of Salvatore’s. A week before he passed away, Costantiello said, they were working on a paper about trade policy uncertainty and rare earth minerals.
“In Italy everyone will remember him. All the news and newspapers have talked about him. I have received hundreds of messages of condolence,” he said.
An Inspiring Father
The son of Italian immigrants, Salvatore came to the U.S. as a teenager in the 1950s and received his bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees from CUNY. He met his wife, Lucia, a Fordham graduate, at a dance, and she encouraged him to apply for a position at her alma mater. A copy of the Convocation program from 2010, when Salvatore was celebrating his 40th year at the University, noted his most recent accomplishments: the nomination for the National Medal of Science—a presidential honor—and a meeting with Pope Benedict XVI.
The Salvatores’ only child, Madeleine, also received her bachelor’s at Fordham and did graduate work at the University in second language acquisition and bilingualism. Now a high school Italian teacher, she credits her father with fostering her love of language by speaking Italian with her at home and hiring an Italian nanny.
Though he had a very international career, “he loved Fordham,” she said. “Professionally, that was his home.”
In addition to his wife and daughter, Salvatore is survived by his brother, Angelo; his son-in-law, Rich; and granddaughter, Isabella. Services were held on Feb. 2 and 3. A memorial at University Church is planned for some point in the future.
