In Memoriam Professor Emilio Pagoulatos 1943 - 2018
Sadly, Emilio Pagoulatos passed away on June 9, 2018. Emilio was not just any professor in the department from 1971 to 1979, but one who was extremely well liked and respected by colleagues, staff, and students
UMSL was Emilio’s first stop out of Iowa State University, where he earned his PhD. While at UMSL, he established a strong research record and earned tenure. A fun fact: Emilio met his wife Jan in Tower/SSB! Emilio subsequently moved on to academic positions at the University of Florida and University of Nebraska. He left Nebraska in 1987 to become Professor and Head of the Agricultural Economics Department at University of Connecticut.
After his retirement from that position in 2007, he and Jan moved back to St. Louis. Over the course of his career, Emilio amassed an amazing quantity and breadth of scholarly research in areas including international trade and development, international agricultural trade, economic growth and development, and the intersection of international trade and domestic market power. He was one of first economists to study both the influence of international trade on mitigating domestic market power as well as the role of domestic market power in influencing international trade flows. As a testament to his career impact, his University of CT colleagues put together a 2018 Special Issue of Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization in his honor.
Emilio worked hard and may have been one of the best-read economists in the profession. At the same time, he was fun loving and had a great personality. Bob Sorensen remembers a department function where some people asked Emilio to show them how to do the Zorba the Greek dance. Emilio answered in the affirmative with his trademark phrase of “But of course.” He then proceeded to show some steps. On the way out after the party Bob said to Emilio “I didn’t know you knew how to do Greek dancing”. Emilio replied “I have no idea how to Greek dance, I just made it up. But wasn’t it fun?”
When Emilio and his wife Jan returned to St. Louis, they reconnected with UMSL Econ. It was a privilege for current faculty, staff, and students to get to know him. Emilio will long be remembered as an incredibly warm individual who had a sincere appreciation for our Department.