Milton Friedman Was a Pussy Cat

In response to my post quoting David Glasner, who said Milton Friedman was an intellectual bully, Michael Rozeff emails:

Robert,

There is a document on the web with a tribute written about Fischer from the Journal of Finance, December 1995. It says that Fischer's wife and family had returned to Boston while Fischer was in Chicago, and that was one reason he left Chicago for MIT. It must be remembered too that Fischer had lived in Cambridge, having gone to Harvard. In addition, his mathematics bent could be supported by a colleague like Bob Merton.

Was Friedman an intellectual bully? My experience with him and Chicagoans says he was not. I gave a paper at Friedman's seminar and later conversed with Fischer. Nobody could intimidate Fischer, and he was tough, including on me. Rochester was filled with ex-Chicagoans and my advisor, Mike Jensen, thought of Friedman as a pussy cat. There was a tradition there of being tough intellectually, but not bullying. Gene (Fama) tells a story of returning from Europe where he had done some work or other. He asked Mert Miller about it, and Mert told him immediately it was trash, worthless. This atmosphere helps to develop intellectual courage but also it's collegial. The intellect usually needs others to bring ideas to proper fruition.

Michael