Wayne Mathew Ayers Jr. died peacefully on Dec. 19, 2024 at his home in Provincetown. The cause was complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said his friend Steve Nason. Wayne had turned 78 in October, issuing his characteristically insightful and amusing commentary on the socioeconomic and geopolitical state of the world up until the end.
Wayne was born on Oct. 11, 1946 in Madison, Wis. to the late Mary (Franke) and Wayne M. Ayers. He graduated from Madison West High School in 1964 and from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1968. He went on to earn a Ph.D. in economics from Cornell University in 1973.
After Cornell, Wayne became an economist for the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington, D.C., where he served as an assistant to Henry Wallich, a member of the board. In 1979, he moved to Boston to work for the Bank of Boston as senior economist and later became chief economist for BankBoston and then Fleet Boston Corp. when BankBoston and Fleet merged in 1999.
As chief economist, Wayne was the bank’s principal spokesman on matters related to regional, national, and international markets. He was frequently seen and heard on New England radio and television stations and was often quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post, Banker & Tradesman, and other publications, forecasting interest rate changes and commenting on the economic outlook.
Wayne served as chair of the Economic Advisory Committee of the American Bankers Association in the 1990s and was a regular speaker at New England Bankers Association meetings. He was an adjunct professor of economics at Boston University’s Graduate School of Management in the early 1980s. He served in the U.S. Army Reserves in the late 1970s.
It was after he moved to Boston in the late 1970s that Wayne met his partner of 45 years, Thomas F. Coen Jr. They lived in Boston’s Back Bay before retiring in 2004 to their home in Provincetown, where they enjoyed travel, town life, and involvement in local affairs. “Wayne had an outrageously funny side that I wouldn’t know how to describe in the newspaper,” said Nason.
He is survived by his partner, Tom Coen; brother-in-law Joe Coen; sisters-in-law Mary Coen-Wyman and Theresa Barisano; cousins Judy Martinez, Don Speth, and Robert Speth; and many longtime friends who miss his singularly engaging and eclectic wisdom and irreverent wit. He was predeceased by his stepmother, Maureen Ayers, and his brother, Kevin Ayers.
Burial of his ashes at the Provincetown Municipal Cemetery will be private. Donations in Wayne’s memory can be made to Outer Cape Health Services in Provincetown.
