George Doyle, at 89; taught economics at Assumption

When Tim Barnicle, legislative assistant to Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota, needed advice on a knotty economic or ethical issue, he always knew where to turn: his first economics professor at Assumption College, George A. Doyle.

"He would always tell me if the direction I was going, or Humphrey was going, was lousy economics or lousy values or both," Barnicle said. "He was an extremely reliable analyst who could always tell me the truth."

Dr. Doyle advised Humphrey's office for four years, until the senator's death in 1978. With Humphrey's Full Employment and Balanced Growth Act still under review in Washington, Barnicle asked Dr. Doyle whether the bill was sound. Barnicle said the professor's recommendation on the bill was among several forwarded to President Carter. The bill passed, establishing for the first time a goal for the national unemployment rate of 4 percent.

Dr. Doyle, a Holden resident who also advised Senator John F. Kerry in the late 1980s, died after a long illness April 21 at Holy Trinity Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Worcester. He was 89.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Dr. Doyle attended St. John's University and Niagara University and earned his doctorate in economics from Fordham University in 1952. Dr. Doyle married his first wife, Elise, in 1941. During World War II, he served as a platoon leader in the US Marine Corps in the Pacific. After the war, he worked as an international economist with the Central Intelligence Agency.

His son Robert of Franklin said Dr. Doyle's intuitive grasp of the complicated interactions of world economic affairs was put to full use at the CIA. He was among a group of economists in the early years of the Cold War to prepare the United States for the possibility of a war.

"His division basically had the responsibility to keep two economic plans going for every country," his son said. "One designed to build up its economy and one to destroy it."

After he left the CIA in 1961, Dr. Doyle and his growing family moved from Falls Church, Va., to Worcester, where he went on to found the department of economics and global studies at Assumption College. He would eventually spend more than 40 years at the college in various positions.

Kevin Hickey, whom he hired at Assumption in 1972 and who now heads the department, said Dr. Doyle made an immediate impression on him.

"He was the type of guy who you felt already knew the answer to any question he was going to ask you," Hickey said. "He had a valuable mind, one I knew I could never replace."

In 1988, after the death of his wife of 47 years, Elise, he accepted an offer from Shanghai Inter national Studies University in China. While living in Shanghai, Dr. Doyle began to write poetry. Hickey said his friend used the time to "search his soul" and wrote often about his wife.

Dr. Doyle returned to America after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. After a chance meeting at a square-dancing class, Dr. Doyle proposed to his second wife, Theresa, on Valentine's Day 1991.

"He decided that he didn't want to be looked at as 'poor old Mister Doyle,' " his wife said. "He wanted to get out and enjoy life."

In addition to his wife and son, Dr. Doyle leaves another son, Francis of Jefferson; six daughters, Agnes Gootee of Seaford, Va., Denise Hughes of Birmingham, Ala., Mary Williams of Delray Beach, Fla., Therese Grattan of Westborough, Colette of Newton, and Monique Doyle Spencer of Brookline; a sister, Audrey Ziccardy of Port St. Lucie, Fla.; 21 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-granddaughter.

A service has been held.