Sherman Joseph Maisel (July 8, 1918 – September 29, 2010) was an American economist who served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors from 1965 to 1972. Research on mortgage policy conducted by Maisel led to the expansion of the roles played by Fannie Mae and Ginnie Mae in encouraging the broader availability of loans to homeowners. Maisel was born on July 8, 1918, in Buffalo, New York. After completing his undergraduate degree in economics from Harvard University in 1939, Maisel worked as a research economist working for the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C. He served in the United States Army during World War II beginning in 1941, attaining the rank of Captain by the time he completed his military service in 1945. After a brief career for the Foreign Service in Brussels, Maisel returned to Harvard, where he earned Master of Public Administration and a Master of Arts in economics in 1947 and 1948 and was awarded a Ph.D. in 1949. Hired by the Haas School of Business in 1948, Maisel helped establish the school's Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics. Maisel became involved in local politics, and was elected to the board of education of the Berkeley Unified School District, serving from 1962 to 1965. After the board approved a plan to address segregation in the district's junior high schools, Maisel faced and won a recall election, in which he encouraged students at the University of California, Berkeley to register and participate in the vote. When he was nominated to serve as a governor of the Federal Reserve System, he met with President Lyndon B. Johnson, who expressed more interest in the details of the Berkeley recall vote than in Maisel's opinions on economic policy. Research performed by Maisel concluded that the traditional pattern of local savings and loan associations making mortgage loans to home buyers exacerbated recessions because they were less willing to lend during economic downturns. As a member of a White House task force on mortgage policy, Maisel and his colleagues recommended that Ginnie Mae should provide guarantees for mortgage-backed securities and that Fannie Mae should be operated independently of the federal budget. These changes were intended to provide greater liquidity to the mortgage market, which would add to economic activity in up or down markets by making it easier to obtain mortgages. As a member of the National Bureau