David Ruder, SEC Chairman During 1987 Crash, Dies at 90 (1)

David Ruder, a former chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission whose off-the-cuff comments may have fanned panic selling on what became known as Black Monday, has died. He was 90.

He died on Feb. 15, according to Northwestern University, where he served as dean of the law school from 1977 to 1985. No cause was given. Jay Clayton, the current SEC chairman, said in a statement on Twitter that Ruder was “a great chairman and constant contributor to the SEC for over 30 years.”

As head of the SEC from August 1987 through September 1989, Ruder ...