Kevin Brandt JOHANNESBURG - Renowned South African economist, Mike Schüssler, has passed away. The financial expert, who lost his battle with cancer, has been remembered as "the people's economist". “He had insight in economics and the reason why is because he had insight into the psyche of humans. He understood people and because of his knowledge of people, he would get a hunch about why people are doing something and he would try to find the data to support that and, quite often, he would actually find it,” said his friend and fellow economist, Dawie Roodt. Road Freight Association CEO and colleague, Gavin Kelly, said that Schüssler's passing was a huge blow to the industry. “We had a long relationship with Mike. He was from Ecomomist.co.za. Very sharp and intuitive in terms of economics, forecasting and looking at what is happening in the country,” Kelly said.