Kreps Juanita

American politician and first woman to hold the post of Secretary of Commerce on 1/23/1977. She joined the faculty of Duke University 1955-1971 and became a full professor in 1968. She left academia for hands-on experience on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972 and returned to Duke as the Vice-President 1973-1977. Kreps was the author of several books on economics. In 1976 she met President Jimmy Carter and from that meeting she became the first woman economist for the position of Secretary of Commerce. She was born the sixth child of impoverished and struggling parents who divorced when she was four years old. At age 12 she was placed in a boarding school where she did well. From there she went on to college eventually earning her Ph.D. from Duke University in 1948. Kreps married on August 11, 1944 and they have three children, one of whom predeceased her. Her husband died in 2000. She died on July 5, 2010 in Durham, NC of complications from Alzheimers disease. Link to Wikipedia biography Read less