In Memoriam
Demetrios G. Papademetriou, 1946 – 2022
Former UBC Centre for Migration Studies Visiting Scholar and Distinguished Transatlantic Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, Demetrios G. Papademetriou, passed away on January 26, 2022.
It is with great sadness that the UBC Centre for Migration Studies announces the passing of Demetrios G. Papademetriou who left us unexpectedly on January 26, 2022. Known to his colleagues and friends as Demetri, his contribution to the fields of migration studies and migration policy was profound and long-lasting. It was just last fall when Demetri graced our Centre with his characteristic wit and insight as a Visiting Scholar with UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, and Centre for Migration Studies.
Dr. Papademetriou was a Distinguished Transatlantic Fellow at the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), which he co-founded and led as its first President until 2014. He held a Ph.D. in comparative public policy and international relations (1976) from the University of Maryland. Over his long career, he taught at the University of Maryland, Duke University, American University, New School for Social Research, and most recently, the University of British Columbia. He also served until 2018 as the founding President of MPI Europe, a non-profit, independent research institute in Brussels aimed at fostering a better understanding of migration trends and effects within Europe.
As a scholar of the finest repute, he published more than 270 books, articles, monographs, and research reports on a wide array of migration topics. While he lectured widely on all aspects of migration policy, his success in promoting Migration Studies was based not just on the strength of his scholarship but by his tireless work as an advisor and consultant for innumerable foundations, civil-society groups, and senior government and political party officials in dozens of countries (including Canada).
As one of those rare individuals who shaped both the world of academia and government, Papademetriou was also the convener of the Transatlantic Council on Migration, which is composed of senior public figures, business leaders, and public intellectuals from Europe, the United States, Canada, and Australia. He was the co-founder of Metropolis: An International Forum for Research and Policy on Migration and Cities (which he acted as International co-Chair for the initiative’s first five years) and served as Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Migration (2009-11); Founding Chair of the Advisory Board of the Open Society Foundations’ International Migration Initiative (2010-15); Chair of the Migration Group of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); Director for Immigration Policy and Research at the U.S. Department of Labor and Chair of the Secretary of Labor’s Immigration Policy Task Force; and Executive Editor of the International Migration Review.
His influence, from the highest levels of migration policymaking to the smallest, most personal gestures of mentoring and connecting, is too immense to capture. We will miss him dearly.
