In memoriam of Jacques Drèze

Photo © Rossel & Cie, Bruno d’Alimonte, Le Soir.

Dear colleagues,

It is with the greatest sadness that we learned that Jacques Drèze passed away on the evening of the 25th September, at age 93. Emeritus professor, he was the founder of CORE and its first president in 1966, as well as founding member of the European Economic Association and the European Doctoral Program in Quantitative Economics, among others. Jacques has collaborated during his extraordinary career with the greatest names of the 20th century in economics, including numerous Nobel Laureates. He leaves lasting scientific contributions to general equilibrium, decision theory, game theory, econometrics, and later macroeconomics and economic policy. He also supervised more than 20 PhD thesis.

Jacques Drèze had remained very active after his early retirement from teaching in 1989, still publishing dozens of scientifc papers. He sailed around the world with his wife in the 1990's. As recently as 2016, he gave a two-days lecture to a packed room as part of our CORE Lecture Series. He could still be regularly seen in the corridors of CV09. We all lost a true mentor and great friend.

We send our condolences to his wife Monique and his family,

Regards,

Catherine Legrand
President of LIDAM

Mathieu Van Vyve
President of CORE

 

  
  Testimonies

Testimonies

Testimony by Fabienne Henry

Je garde de Jacques Drèze le souvenir d’une personne pleine d’humanité, d’empathie, de respect. C’était aussi une personne généreuse en compliments. J’ai vraiment beaucoup apprécié travailler pour...

Testimony by Michel Lubrano

Some people have a tremendous influence on the course of our life. Jacques was one of them. When I arrived at Core at the end of the seventies, I was a very young student ignorant of many things....

Testimony by Robert Kollmann

The passing of Professor Jacques Drèze is a terrible shock. I feel a great sadness, and I would like to send my most heartfelt condolences to Jacques Drèze’s family. During my undergraduate...

Testimony by Luc Bauwens

Jacques Drèze determined my professional life. I had the luck to be a student of a course (General Equilibrium Theory) that he taught (only once in his life) as an invited professor in Liège in...

Testimony by Jean-Jacques Herings

It is with great sadness that I heard the news of Jacques Drèze passing away. I have known Jacques for such a long time and it is almost impossible to comprehend that he is no longer among us. The...

Testimony by Mathieu Van Vyve

Jacques Drèze, by founding CORE, has indirectly had a large influence on my life since I did my PhD there, then came back to become professor seven years later. On a more personal note, I was...

Testimony by Pierre Dehez

Lu au cours de la cérémonie d'adieu à Jacques Drèze   Si je m'exprime devant vous aujourd'hui, c'est au nom du CORE et en particulier au nom des anciens, des émérites. Nous étions 17 et...

Testimony by Laurent Deutsch

J’apprends avec une immense émotion le décès de Jacques Drèze qui m’enseigna, à Louvain-la-Neuve, l’économétrie, la théorie de l’équilibre général et la théorie économique du risque. Je ne...

Testimony by Truman Bewley

C'est avec tristesse que j'ai appris la nouvelle du décès du Professeur Jacques Drèze. Il était le directeur du CORE à Louvain quand j'ai passé une année là. C'est au CORE que j'ai écrit ma...

Testimony by Robert Gary-Bobo

La disparition de Jacques Drèze, un choc pour moi, même si son grand âge rendait son départ hélas probable. J'aimais l'homme et l'économiste. Sans doute le plus grand économiste Belge de sa...

Testimony by Michel De Vroye

Je suis très triste car mon estime et mon amitié pour Jacques était à nulle autre pareille. Il restera un modèle. Michel De Vroye

Testimony by Vincent Blondel

Toutes mes condoléances à la famille et à ses proches. Merci pour ton message et bien triste de découvrir cette fort triste nouvelle. C’est une toute grande figure de l’Université qui nous quitte...

Testimony by Erik Schokkaert

Very sad news. There is no economist that I have admired more than Jacques, not only for his great scientific contributions, but even more so for his ethical inspiration and human kindness....

Testimony by Renzo Orsi

È veramente una notizia che mi rattrista. Quando i grandi se ne vanno ti senti un po come orfano perché ti viene a mancare uno dei riferimenti su cui hai sempre contato, sia come scienziato che...

Testimony by Juan Antonio Morales

Le départ de Jacques Drèze m’a beaucoup attristé. Pour moi, Jacques n’était pas seulement mon professeur mais il m’avait donné son amitié. Quand j’allais en Belgique, je ne manquais pas de le...

Testimony by Bernard Cornet

Oui tres triste nouvelle. J’avais de lui qu’il etait un rocher intouchable par les elements. Il etait simplement humain comme nous tous. Bernard Cornet

Testimony by Rodolphe Dos Santos

Les disparitions se poursuivent hélas. Jacques Drèze n’a pas été un intime du BETA, mais tout de même une figure tutélaire lointaine. En créant le CORE, il a ouvert le chemin aux laboratoires où...

Testimony by André de Palma

Une bien triste nouvelle. J’ai passé quelques années au CORE pendant sa splendeur vers la fin de années 80. Pour moi c’est un pionnier qui a changé la recherche en Belgique (et en Europe). Il a...

Testimony by Henri Sneessens

Triste nouvelle et un homme qu’on a eu la chance inouïe et le privilège de rencontrer au quotidien pendant de si belles années. Henri Sneessens

Testimony by Antonio Cabrales Goitia

We are writing in the name of the EEA first to express our condolences for the passing of Jacques Drèze. We are all feeling it, but I am sure it is harder for those of you who were closer to him....

Testimony by Philippe De Villé

J'imagine combien la tristesse doit être grande. Je la partage. La cérémonie d'hier était tellement à son image. Ouverture, tolérance, engagement, amour de la vie et des autres. J'ai toujours eu...

Testimony by Claude Henry

La disparition de Jacques Drèze me laisse, moi aussi, profondément ému. Je repense notamment aux étés - que je passais avec ma famille chez ma belle-mère à Gembloux - quand Jacques m'accueillait...

Testimony by Michel Lebreton

Lorsque, j’étais jeune étudiant en sciences économiques à Rennes au milieu des années 70, le nom de Jacques Drèze m’était déjà familier. J’avais lu avec gourmandise son article de 1964 sur la...

Testimony by Shlomo Weber

My thoughts of Jacques are focused on two aspects: towering scholar and a friends. When I was the CORE Research Director in 2004-6 we worked together with Michel Le Breton on optimal location of...

Testimony by Robert Aumann

Pierre, received the news only just now. Am devastated. Jacques and I were very close. Robert Aumann   A video from Bob Aumann  

Testimony by Philippe Chevalier

Jacques is such an inspirational model for me, on top of his immense scientific contributions, he was a true leader that created the unique atmosphere at CORE recognised all over the world, he was...

Testimony by Ana Mauleon

A great person. We’ll miss him at CORE. Ana Mauleon

Testimony by Mark Steel

The news of the passing of Jacques Dreze was a great shock. I met him in 1982 when I started my graduate studies at CORE. He impressed me immediately and was truly one of the greats, in many...

Testimony by Andreu Mas-Colell

My Jacques: Intelectual admiration, of course. But he was key in my life for another reason: he showed that it was possible to do first rate economics from continental Europe. And more: he showed...

Testimony by Jan Svenar

Jacques was a giant as both a person and an economist. He had a major influence on me when I was a visiting fellow at CORE in 1983-84 and all the time thereafter. He will be sorely missed. Jan...

Testimony by Mario Tirelli

It was a privilege and a great pleasure to have met Jaques. Working with him was a unique experience that I truly miss. I have very good memories of those days, discussing economics in Jaques’...

Testimony by Yossi Greenberg

For me Jacques was the personification of academia at its best: a great scholar and a great human being, balancing the two even when it may not be easy to do so. It is primarily because of this...

Testimony by Luc Leruth

I just wanted to say that Jacques welcomed me to economics from mathematics. He also gave me my first job as research student at CORE (for Jan Svejnar) and sent me to India at the ISI Delhi where...

Testimony by Massimo Morelli

Unfortunately yesterday I had fever 40 plus and was knoched out completely and had to miss the memorial meeting, I am very sorry.The great heart of Jaques was very inspirational for me. I met him...

Testimony by Edi Karni

Jacques was more than a friend to me. He was one of my role models both as scholar and gentleman that, in his personality, unified the best human and scholarly values. His passing leaves a big...

Testimony by Camille Bronsard

Jacques n'était pas qu'un grand homme, il était un grand homme aimable qui semait la joie autour de lui, par sa bonté, son intelligence, son humour, sa présence seule. Lise Salvas, feue ma...

Testimony by Pierre Pestieau

Suite au décès de Jacques, on a pu lire de nombreux témoignages. Je ne sais trop qu’ajouter à cette avalanche de marques d’admiration et d’amitié. Tout ce que je peux faire, c’est de rapporter...