Paul Volcker, who headed the US central bank from 1975 to 1987, was 92 when he died
Paul Volcker, who headed the US central bank from 1975 to 1987, was 92 when he died GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / ALEX WONG

Former US Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, who tackled American inflation in the 1970s and 80s and later lent his name to landmark Wall Street reforms, died Sunday.

Volcker, who headed the US central bank from 1979 to 1987, was 92. The cause was complications from prostate cancer, his daughter Janice Zima told AFP.

In a career spanning the post-War decades to the 2008 financial crisis -- he advised US leaders from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama -- Volcker persuaded lawmakers following the financial meltdown to impose tighter restrictions on the conduct of banks.

Over his long career Volcker advised US leaders from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama
Over his long career Volcker advised US leaders from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama AFP / NICHOLAS KAMM

A grandson of German immigrants, Volcker was born in 1927 in Cape May, New Jersey, and developed a love of fly-fishing.

After leaving the Fed in 1987, he became chief executive of the investment bank Wolfensohn & Company.

A father of two, he remarried in 2010 at the age of 83, taking his long-serving assistant as his bride 12 years after the death of his wife Barbara.