Fed Members Are Just Like You and Me

The Associated Press gets warm and cuddly with the FOMC. Is it me, or do these sound more like singles ads?

Donald Kohn, Vice Chairman:

When the weather is nice, Kohn enjoys riding his bicycle to work, pedaling across a bridge over the Potomac River and making his way to downtown Washington, D.C., and the Federal Reserve's marble headquarters.

In his spare time, Kohn also likes sailing -- a passion he shares with a few of his other central bank colleagues.

Randall Kroszner, Board Member:

These days, Kroszner takes pleasure in classical music. After years of violin and piano lessons, he says he realized "I was much better at listening than playing."

Kroszner also has a special fondness for art, contemporary photography and architecture. He once lived in a building in Chicago designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, considered a pioneer of modern architecture.

An avid reader of fiction, Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick" is perhaps his favorite work. Among his favorite living writers: V.S. Naipaul and J.M. Coetzee.

Frederic Mishkin, Board Member:

Whether on land or sea, Mishkin is at home.

The Fed governor, 57, likes cutting through the water on his small sailboat, which is moored on the Hudson River. He also works up a sweat cross-country skiing, bicycling and roller blading.

Charles Plosser, Phildelphia Fed President:

Plosser is a music aficionado. And, his musical tastes are wide-ranging -- classical, jazz, country, folk and good old rock and roll.

Besides music, Plosser, 59, likes to play golf and get lost in a good book. He also enjoys traveling.

Richard Fisher, Dallas Fed President:

Fisher collects rare and first-edition books and documents. Some of his treasures: A first-edition of Thomas Jefferson's "Notes on Virginia"; several historical Texas documents; a complete collection of all first prints of Winston Churchill's books and speeches; and works by the famous economists Adam Smith and John Maynard Keynes.

A voracious reader, Fisher's favorite authors include Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Langston Hughes, P.G. Wodehouse and Evelyn Waugh. Recent reads include "The Shadow of the Wind," "The Secret Life of Lobsters," and "A Thousand Splendid Suns."

Favorite music: Vintage rock and roll, all classical music -- except for Russian composers and anything by Robert Earl Keen, whose music falls into the folk and country genres.

The AP also has more conventional bios of Bernanke, Geithner, Warsh, Stern and Pianalto here.