Yegor Gaidar, father of economic reforms and market transformation in Russia and world renowned economist died today on December 16, 2009 at the age of 53. He was the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of economic policy and Minister of Economy and Finance (1991-1992), acting Prime Minister of the Russian Federation (1992), advisor to the President of RF (1993), first Deputy Prime Minister and acting Minister of Economy (1993-1994). He was twice a member of State Duma (the lower house of parliament): from 1993 to 1995 and from 1999 to 2003. He was one of the founders and then Director of the Institute for the Economy in Transition (IET) in Moscow, the prestigious research institution belonging to the CASE network. He was a member of the CASE Advisory Council from its first formation, participating in several CASE conferences, seminars and author of CASE publications. He was good friend of CASE and many of us personally.