Frank Nothaft, senior vice president and chief economist for CoreLogic and one of the industry’s trusted analytical voices for decades, died unexpectedly over the weekend, the company announced. He was 66.
“Most people knew Frank as one of the nation’s premier housing economists. He was also an outstanding leader and one of those extraordinary people who was loved and admired by everyone who was lucky enough to know him,” a CoreLogic spokesperson wrote in a statement.
Known for both his sharp market analysis and the bow tie he always wore, Nothaft joined CoreLogic in 2015 as its lead economist. Ever diligent, he was active in reporting industry trends and economics just this past Friday, authoring a post on CoreLogic’s blog about the effects of hurricane seasons on local housing markets.
Nothaft also was known throughout the mortgage industry for his work at Freddie Mac. He joined the government-sponsored enterprise in 1986, serving as senior economist, deputy chief economist and chief economist in his time there.
He also worked previously as an economist for the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors, serving from 1983 to 1986 within the Research and Statistics Division of the Mortgage and Consumer Finance Section. He joined the faculty of Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies in 2010, teaching urban real estate economics until 2015.
Additionally, he was active in several real estate and economics industry groups, holding leadership positions at the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, the National Association for Business Economics, the Financial Management Association and the Real Estate Research Institute.
He attended New York University, earning a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science. He received a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University.
