Gary Becker, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, died at the age of 83 in Chicago on Saturday, May 3. Becker passed away from complications after a recent surgery that followed on from a longtime illness.

The recipient of the 1992 Nobel Memorial Prize for Economic Science, Becker was a professor of economics and of sociology at the University of Chicago. His work focused on understanding everyday decisions in aspects of life such as marriage, racial discrimination, addiction and crime. Becker is best known for his studies in labor economics, and his groundbreaking interdisciplinary work made him the first to see economics as the study of human behavior.

Becker is also one of two scholars who have received both the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. President George W. Bush presented Becker with the medal at the White House in 2007.

In honor of Becker’s life and work, the University of Chicago will hold a memorial service, the details of which will be announced at a later date.