End to an illuistrious career in the sense of a career at the Fed...At the Fed he was a member of the Board negotiating on policies which WERE implemented.  Now, As a professor, the theroies he comes up with can be shut to himself as there are a thousand other smart economists out there (Baumol, Krugman, etc.)who bring forth theories which would never even make it into the hallways of the Fed Meetings.