Alan Greenspan, hailed as the greatest central banker of all time before his legacy was tarnished by the financial crisis, has died aged 100.

The economist, who was chairman of the US Federal Reserve from August 1987 to January 2006, died at his home in Washington, according to his wife, the TV journalist Andrea Mitchell.

‘He was a giant of a man who helped shape the US economy for decades, but was always honest in acknowledging his mistakes,’ she said.

‘He will be remembered for his brilliance and his kindness. Being his life partner was the joy of my life.’

Greenspan, who served under four presidents, oversaw the second-longest economic expansion in US history – an uninterrupted decade of growth from March 1991 to March 2001.

His decision to let the economy run – despite pressure to raise interest rates to counter an inflation threat that never materialised – helped foster years of US prosperity and earned him near rock-star status as an economic maestro.

However, critics attacked his policies for fuelling a series of asset price bubbles and laying the groundwork for the 2007-09 financial crisis. 

Stephen Oliner, a former senior Fed official, said: ‘I think the deification that came just before the financial crisis was never really deserved, and I think the lambasting that he took after he left was never fully deserved either.’

Roger Ferguson, who served as Fed vice chairman from 1999 to 2006, said: ‘Alan Greenspan deserves to be remembered as one of the great central bankers of the second half of the 20th century, in a global context, not just at the Fed.’

Greenspan won plaudits for his response to the Black Monday stock market crash of 1987, just two months after he took office. 

He also steered the US economy through the 1990-91 recession, the collapse of the dot-com stock market bubble in 2000, and the turbulent economic aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001.