A professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics, Graeber studied anarchism and anti-capitalist movements, and challenged the world to respond to the plight of Kurds in the Middle East.

His 2011 book “Debt: The First 5,000 Years” was an anti-capitalist analysis that struck a chord with many readers in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Graeber’s rigorous, readable radicalism was showcased again in the 2018 book “Bullshit Jobs: A Theory.”

“David was a hugely influential anthropologist, political activist and public intellectual,″ said Professor Laura Bear, head of the anthropology department at LSE. “Our community of staff and students will not be the same now he is gone, but we know his brilliant work will be read by generations to come.”

Born in New York, Graeber inherited his activism from his parents. His father was a printer in the days of offset presses and fought with the International Brigades against Gen. Francisco Franco’s forces in the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War. His mother was a garment worker and homemaker who played the female lead in the 1930s musical “Pins & Needles,’’ which celebrated the American labor movement.

But he was also a “true intellectual” whose work was influenced by many thinkers, activists and artists, his agent, Melissa Flashman, said Thursday when she confirmed his death. His wife, Nika Dubrovsky, tweeted that he died Wednesday. She didn’t offer a cause.