NES community suffered another big loss in just ten days with professor Andrei Bremzen passing away on July 1. Another NES graduate, a very bright, interesting and distinct person who was loved by everyone.
After graduating from the MAE program in 1999, Andrei went to MIT, got his PhD in economics there, and returned to lecture at NES. He was actively giving public lectures, which always packed the house. Andrei knew how to captivate the audience with his stories about game theory, Nobel laureates and behavioral economics. With broad-based knowledge, sensitive and delicate, he had an extraordinary sense of humor and could interest any audience.
We express our deepest condolences to Andrei's family and friends, to everyone who knew and loved him. NES will provide all possible assistance to his family.
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You can leave your memories of Andrei Bremzen here.
If you have some photos of Andrei to share, please send them to [email protected].
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«Being his colleague in the Masters of Global Public Policy was a pleasure, and the students viewed him as one of the best faculty members.» Carol S. Leonard
«If there was one person that played the most significant role in my academic life, it was Andrei Bremzen. Fresh out of high school, 18 years old, I came to the HSE-NES program, and one of my first classes was Andrei’s introduction to economics, which was an informal discussion about the philosophical and methodological foundations of this part of the social sciences. It was a class that fascinated me every lecture and a class that I remember to this day. Somewhere between Andrei’s lectures the idea of pursuing a PhD came to my mind.
Years later, I started to develop new perspectives on the content of the class and eventually became quite critical to some of its materials, but the memories of the fascination that I experienced during Andrei’s lectures make me respect and appreciate different opinions and positions in these and all other debates.
Andrei was a unique teacher who perfectly felt his audience and kept the attention and the interest in the material at the highest level from the moment he entered the room. He was kind of a cult figure at our department. His phrases instantly became memes, we quoted him, repeated his jokes and laughed at them again and again.
I was lucky to see another Andrei also, when after a couple of very frank conversations we established a new, quite personal connection. While walking with him by Hudson river in New York or in Sokolniki park in Moscow, I got to know a sensitive and gentle person, who opened up to others and appreciated others opening up to him.
Rest in peace, Andrei, You will be missed.» Sasha Dorofeev
«I am deeply indebted to Andrei. From the beginning of my time at NES, Andrei went out of his way to welcome me and to encourage me to work on Russia despite my ignorance. During our time together, he would educate me about Russia. Everywhere we went in Moscow, he would lock in on something in our surroundings and tell me in intricate detail about his beloved city and culture. Many of the details he shared I would forget, but he impressed upon me the many layers of Russian culture and gifted me a lifelong curiosity in all things Russian. The education did not stop in Russia. I recall one year we attended a conference together in Princeton and Andrei bought me a copy of Kuprin’s The Duel in an used bookshop. He patiently explained to me the role Kuprin played in Russian literature and why he admired his writing. I always had the feeling that he wanted to share because he valued what he was sharing and because he valued my opinion of it. We never managed to publish our research together, but I witnessed firsthand his strong command of contract theory and economic intuition. I had the feeling that no problem was too complex for him to parse down to the essentials. Andrei was truly an amazing individual and he will forever be part of NES.» Paul Castañeda Dower
