Leonard Silk, economics editor for The New York Times, lectured on "Economic News Coverage."  A PhD in economics, Silk taught at the University of Maine and Simmons College before joining The Times in 1970.  At the time of his retirement from the newspaper in 1992, he wrote in his last column: “I see economics as a branch of philosophy—moral philosophy as it was called in the days of Adam Smith.  Its mission was and still is to improve the lot of humanity, especially for the poor.”