Franco Modigliani was born in Rome in 1918 to Enrico Modigliani and Olga Flaschel. His father worked as a successful pediatrician while his mother was a social worker. As a young child and in his early teenage years Franco did not distinguish himself academically, this lackluster performance was further compounded by the untimely passing of his father in 1932, due to an unsuccessful surgery. It was only after a transfer to "Liceo Viscont" an extremely well-regarded academic school that Franco began