It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of Professor Brendan M. Walsh on 19 May 2016. Brendan was one of Ireland’s most influential economists and had a long association with the ESRI. He was awarded his Ph.D. by Boston College in 1966 and worked as an assistant professor at Tufts University from 1966 to 1969. In 1969, he returned to Ireland and began his career with the Institute. While with the ESRI between 1969 and 1980, he established himself as one of the country’s leading researchers in the social sciences, publishing numerous papers on the economics of labour markets and on the economic dimensions of demography. In 1980, he was appointed to a chair in Economics in UCD but he remained closely connected to the ESRI. He served on our Council between 1983 and 1991 and again from 2004 to 2010. In this later spell, he was President of the Institute. He has left us with an immense body of academic work but also with many insights which he shared as a teacher, mentor and friend. The Council and staff extend their deepest sympathies to Brendan’s family and friends.