Paul Solman’s Long Run From Cab Driver to PBS’s Economics Voice
Paul Solman has explained the American economy to PBS NewsHour viewers for four decades, but his own résumé reads like a study in economic reinvention itself — cab driver, kindergarten teacher, crafts store co-owner, and management consultant, all before he became one of television’s most recognizable business journalists.
The Son of a Painter
Paul Solman was born September 9, 1944, in New York City, making him 81 years old as of 2026. His father was Joseph Solman, an American expressionist painter and co-founder of The Ten, an influential group of 1930s New York artists; his mother was Ruth Romanofsky. He has one sibling, a sister named Ronni, who worked as a schoolteacher in Los Angeles. Solman graduated from Brandeis University in 1966 with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, where he wrote for and eventually edited the student newspaper, The Justice.
An Unusually Winding Path Into Journalism
Solman’s route into journalism was anything but direct. Before establishing his career, he worked as a cab driver, a kindergarten teacher, a co-owner of a crafts store, and a management consultant — a genuinely varied résumé that predates any of his broadcasting work. He got his first journalism job in 1970 at the alternative weekly Boston After Dark, and in 1972 became founding editor of a rival alternative paper, The Real Paper, going on to work as a feature writer and investigative reporter.
His pivot into business journalism specifically came through a Nieman Fellowship, which he used to join Harvard Business School’s MBA class of 1978. He began his career as a business reporter at WGBH-TV in Boston immediately afterward, and co-created the PBS business documentary series “Enterprise” with fellow Nieman Fellow Zvi Dor-Ner. In the late 1970s, he also served as East Coast editor of Mother Jones magazine.
Four Decades at PBS NewsHour
Solman joined the “MacNeil/Lehrer Report” in 1985 — the program that would later become PBS NewsHour — and has served as its business and economics correspondent ever since, with occasional forays into arts reporting. His signature “Making Sen$e” segments have run on the program for decades, tackling everything from Social Security policy to income inequality to the economics of the sneaker resale market. His body of work has earned eight Emmy Awards, five Peabody Awards, a Gerald Loeb Award for financial journalism, and a James Beard Award for media in 2018.
Alongside his television work, Solman has maintained a substantial academic career. He taught at Harvard Business School’s Advanced Management Program from 1985 to 1987, later became a faculty member of Yale University’s International Security Studies program from 2007 to 2016 (teaching in its “Grand Strategy” course), and has held visiting positions including the Richman Distinguished Visiting Professorship at Brandeis in 2011 and a visiting fellowship at Mansfield College, Oxford, in 2016.
An Author and Public Advocate
Solman co-authored “Life and Death on the Corporate Battlefield” in 1983, a commercially successful business book later published in Japanese, German, and a pirated Taiwanese edition. In the 1990s, he helped create and wrote the introduction to “Morrie: In His Own Words” with his former Brandeis sociology teacher, Morrie Schwartz — the same Morrie whose story later became the basis for the bestselling memoir “Tuesdays with Morrie.” In 2015, he co-authored “Get What’s Yours: The Secrets to Maxing Out Your Social Security,” and he also created and presented “Discovering Economics with Paul Solman,” a video series designed to accompany McGraw-Hill economics textbooks.
Since 2019, Solman has chaired the board of the American Exchange Project, a nonpolitical, anti-polarization nonprofit that sends and embeds high school seniors, for free, in American communities unlike their own — a cause that reflects his broader interest in bridging divides beyond his economics reporting.
Age and Personal Life
Solman is 81 years old as of 2026. He’s been married twice: his first wife was Judy Edelsberg Solman, also a member of Brandeis’s class of 1966, and he’s since remarried to Jan Freeman, a longtime language columnist for The Boston Globe and author of “Ambrose Bierce’s Write It Right.” Across both marriages, Solman has two daughters and seven grandchildren. He’s said in interviews that what matters most to him includes “both wives… both kids, all seven grandkids, parents, other family, friends, careers and my health” — a rare, direct window into how he characterizes his own life outside the newsroom. He took up tennis at age 50 and has generally kept further personal details private.
Family
Solman was born into an exceptionally prominent artistic household. His father, Joseph Solman, was a legendary American expressionist painter and a core co-founder of “The Ten,” a major modern art movement in New York City. He grew up alongside his siblings in a highly cultured urban environment that placed an immense premium on creative self-expression, literature, and socioeconomic literacy.
Wife
Solman is married to his wife, Jan Freeman. Jan is a highly accomplished journalist and linguist who earned widespread recognition as the long-running language and grammar columnist for The Boston Globe. Together, the couple has two adult daughters and seven grandchildren. The close-knit family maintains a private lifestyle, splitting their time between Solman’s broadcast office and their home in Massachusetts.
Height
Solman stands at an approximate height of 5 feet 11 inches.
Net Worth
Solman has an estimated net worth of between $2 million and $5 million as of 2026. This solid financial standing has been built over a 50-year career in media, spanning continuous senior correspondent contracts with PBS, book royalties, corporate consulting fees, and historic faculty salaries from Harvard and Yale.
Salary
Solman earns an estimated annual salary ranging from $140,000 to $220,000. This baseline pay rate reflects his senior status as one of public broadcasting’s longest-tenured economics journalists and specialized content curators.
Interesting Facts
- He has been a correspondent for PBS NewsHour since 1985.
- He helped create PBS’s business documentary series Enterprise.
- He taught at both Harvard Business School and Yale University.
- He has won Emmy and Peabody Awards across multiple decades.
- He co-authored a bestselling Social Security guide.
- Before becoming a journalist, he worked various jobs including teaching and management consulting.
Quick Facts
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name | Paul Solman |
| Born | September 9, 1944, New York City |
| Age | 81 (as of 2026) |
| Occupation | Business and Economics Correspondent, PBS NewsHour |
| Education | B.A., Sociology, Brandeis University (1966); Nieman Fellowship/MBA coursework, Harvard Business School |
| Joined PBS NewsHour | 1985 (then “MacNeil/Lehrer Report”) |
| Major awards | 8 Emmy Awards; 5 Peabody Awards; Gerald Loeb Award; James Beard Award for media (2018) |
| Notable books | “Life and Death on the Corporate Battlefield” (1983); “Get What’s Yours” (2015) |
| Academic roles | Harvard Business School (1985–1987); Yale International Security Studies (2007–2016) |
| Father | Joseph Solman, painter, co-founder of The Ten |
| Spouses | Judy Edelsberg Solman (first wife); Jan Freeman (current wife), Boston Globe language columnist |
| Children/Grandchildren | Two daughters; seven grandchildren |
FAQ
How old is Paul Solman? He was born September 9, 1944, making him 81 years old as of 2026.
How long has Paul Solman worked for PBS NewsHour? Since 1985, when he joined what was then “The MacNeil/Lehrer Report” — a tenure spanning more than four decades as its business and economics correspondent.
What did Paul Solman do before becoming a journalist? He worked as a cab driver, kindergarten teacher, crafts store co-owner, and management consultant before entering journalism in 1970.
Who is Paul Solman married to? He’s currently married to Jan Freeman, a Boston Globe language columnist; he was previously married to Judy Edelsberg Solman, a fellow Brandeis graduate.
What awards has Paul Solman won? Eight Emmy Awards, five Peabody Awards, a Gerald Loeb Award for financial journalism, and a 2018 James Beard Award for media.
A Career Built on Curiosity, Not a Straight Line
Paul Solman’s decades at PBS NewsHour stand out not just for their length, but for how unlikely a path he took to get there — a sociology degree, a string of unrelated jobs, and a Nieman Fellowship that happened to point him toward business reporting almost by accident. That same restless curiosity has kept his “Making Sen$e” segments distinct from typical financial journalism for more than 40 years, wrapping economics coverage around a genuinely wide-ranging life.
