SA economist Mike Schüssler has died after a short battle with cancer.

“I got a message from his wife [Greta Moodie] this morning that Mike has passed on,” Schüssler’s friend, economist Dawie Roodt said on Tuesday.

Roodt said Schüssler had throat cancer and had “about two months ago or even less had an operation”. However, Schüssler’s health deteriorated which led to him being hospitalised again.

Roodt said he believed that Schüssler, whom he has known since the 1990s, would like to be remembered as a people’s economist. He was popular for his insights on radio and other media, crunching financial data to inform ordinary people.

Roodt said he used to call Schüssler a “pink economist” as his views on the economy were more liberal than his own.

“Mike would call me an inflation Nazi... we were close, we partied together when we were young,” Roodt said, adding he was “a very likable guy”.

Schüssler was a music lover, he said. “He had a huge knowledge of music, his collection had very old Afrikaans music to most recent rap music, he had everything”.

Roodt said Schüssler attended the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg) where he completed his master’s degree. 

Something many did not know about him is that he was anti National Party, Roodt said, sharing an anecdote about how Schüssler was fired from the RAU radio station after having a go at the National Party as a presenter on the university's station.

Tributes are pouring in for the founder of the Economists.co.za research house.

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