In Washington and on Wall Street, Rubin gained a reputation for coolness under pressure and seemingly unshakable confidence, yet also a striking sense of humility.

Armed with degrees from Harvard College, the London School of Economics, and Yale Law School, Rubin had worked briefly as an attorney at the New York law firm Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton before heading to Wall Street.

He climbed the corporate ladder at Goldman Sachs from 1966 to 1992, serving as co-chairman during his last two years there.

Rothkopf asserts that Rubin’s time at the Wall Street firm may have fostered his self-deprecating nature.

“Goldman Sachs...is as close to a meritocracy as any company on the planet,” he says. “The ego issues are really set aside in terms of what benefits the group.”

When Clinton took office in 1993, he tapped Rubin to direct the newly created National Economic Council.

Summers, meanwhile, was appointed undersecretary of the treasury for international affairs from his previous position as chief economist at the World Bank. Before that, he had become, at 28, the youngest tenured professor in Harvard’s history.

In 1995, Rubin was chosen to lead the Treasury Department, and Summers was made his deputy.

In their years together at the Treasury, the two dealt with financial crises in Mexico and in Asia, as well as presiding over the longest period of economic expansion in U.S. history.

Summers and Rubin became known as a formidable economic duo in the Washington Beltway.

Gergen says that he is “hard pressed to remember any team that worked so well together.”

“We had the perfect combination of Wall Street and the academy,” he adds.

Rothkopf notes the Rubin’s and Summers’ personal attributes complemented one another at the Treasury.

“Bob Rubin is famous as a listener; Larry is famous for being an idea engine. Rubin is extremely canny at interpersonal politics; Larry is a force of nature and is focused less on the niceties of personal skills. Rubin is a market guy; Larry is an economic theory guy,” Rothkopf says. “All these skill sets ended up making them the most powerful team anywhere in the United States government.”

“The Treasury Department was the center of gravity of the Clinton administration,” he adds, “and the center of gravity at the Treasury Department was Rubin and Summers.”