Yegor Gaidar - Death

Death

Gaidar died at the age of 53 in Odintsovo raion, Moscow Oblast, Russia. Gaidar's aide Valery Natarov told that Gaidar died unexpectedly, early on 16 December 2009, at his Moscow Oblast home while he was working on a book for children. Gaidar died of pulmonary edema, provoked by myocardial ischemia. He is survived by his wife, three sons and daughter.

Former associates acknowledged Gaidar as an object of loathing among ordinary Russians who lost everything during the economic liberalization, but they praised him as a man who averted greater catastrophe. "He stood before the choice of civil war or painful reforms", Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister under Yeltsin, told the Ekho Moskvy radio station. "He gave his life to avert civil war."

Anatoly Chubais, the minister responsible for privatization in the early 1990s, who considers himself a friend of Gaidar, praised Gaidar as Russia's "savior". "It was Russia's huge good fortune that in one of the worst moments in its history it had Yegor Gaidar. In the early 1990s he saved the country from famine, civil war and disintegration", Chubais wrote in his blog. "Few people in the history of Russia and in world history can be compared with him for force of intellect, clarity of understanding of the past, present and future, and a willingness to take the most difficult but necessary decisions", wrote Chubais.

Former Deputy Minister of Fuel and Energy of Russia Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev expressed their condolences. "He laid the foundation of our economy".

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has expressed condolences to relatives and friends of Yegor Gaidar. Medvedev called Gaidar a "daring, honest and decisive" economist who "evoked respect among his supporters and opponents." Gaidar was a brave, honest, and determined man, who "assumed responsibility for unpopular but essential measures in a period of radical change," the president said.

"The death of Gaidar is a heavy loss for Russia," says Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. "We have lost a genuine citizen and patriot, a strong spirited person, a talented scientist, writer and expert.... He didn't dodge responsibility and 'took the punch' in the most challenging situations with honor and courage," the statement said.

The White House offered condolences over Gaidar's death. Although controversial, Gaidar’s legacy formed the foundation of a dynamic market-based economy and is destined to live on, National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer said. Hammer described him as a top-notch intellectual, a true Russian patriot and a leading brain behind Russia’s political and economic reforms in the past two decades.