Carlos Francisco Theodoro Machado Ribeiro de Lessa, better known simply as Carlos Lessa (30 July 1936 – 5 June 2020) was a Brazilian economist and professor.

Life and career

Born on 30 July 1936, in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, to a wealthy family, Lessa studied at private schools in his native city. In 1959, he graduated in economics at the

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro or University of Brazil (UFRJ; pt, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro or ') is a public research university located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest federal university in the ...

and later got a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

at Conselho Nacional de Economia. In 1980 he finished his

doctor's degree A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' l ...

Human science Human science (or human sciences in the plural), also known as humanistic social science and moral science (or moral sciences), studies the philosophical, biological, social, and cultural aspects of human life. Human science aims to expand our u ...

s at

University of Campinas The State University of Campinas ( pt, Universidade Estadual de Campinas), commonly called Unicamp, is a public research university in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Unicamp is consistently ranked among the top universities in Brazil and ...

. Lessa worked as a professor at

and at the

Rio Branco Institute The Rio Branco Institute (; Abbreviation: IRBr) is a graduate school of International Relations and diplomatic academy located in Brasília, Brazil. The institute was created on April 18, 1945, as part of the centennial celebration of the birth o ...

, the Brazilian diplomatic graduate school. In 2002, Lessa was elected Rector of the

. It was his post for a brief period of time between July 2002 and March 2003. In 2003, Lessa was appointed President of the

Brazilian Development Bank The National Bank for Economic and Social Development ( pt, Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social, abbreviated: BNDES) is a development bank structured as a federal public company associated with the Ministry of the Economy of Br ...

by Brazilian President

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party ...

. His tenure lasted from January 2003 to November 2004 and his resignation was a result of multiple disagreements over

economic policies The economy of governments covers the systems for setting levels of taxation, government budgets, the money supply and interest rates as well as the labour market, national ownership, and many other areas of government interventions into the ec ...

with Central Bank of Brazil President Henrique Meirelles and Minister of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade Luiz Fernando Furlan

Personal life and death

Lessa was a huge fan of

Brazilian Carnival The Carnival of Brazil ( pt, Carnaval do Brasil, ) is an annual Brazilian festival held the Friday afternoon before Ash Wednesday at noon, which marks the beginning of Lent, the forty-day period before Easter. During Lent, Roman Catholics and so ...

and founded ''Minerva Assanhada'', a

Carnival block Carnival blocks, carnaval blocos or blocos de rua are street bands that mobilize crowds on the streets and are the main popular expression of Brazilian Carnival. These parades fall under the term "street carnival", and happen during a period of ab ...

composed mostly of

students and personnel. Lessa's son, Rodrigo Lessa is a singer-songwriter and Multi-instrumentalist. Lessa died from complications of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

on 5 June 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil The COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was confirmed to have spread to Brazil on 25 February 2020, when a man from São Paulo who had traveled to Italy tested positive for the virus. ...

at the age of 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lessa, Carlos 1936 births 2020 deaths Federal University of Rio de Janeiro alumni 20th-century Brazilian economists 21st-century Brazilian economists People from Rio de Janeiro (city) Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Rio de Janeiro (state) Rectors of universities in Brazil