This is news that we never wanted to publish and which fills us with great sadness. After a long illness, faced with great courage and great serenity, he passed away at the age of just 66 Andrea Gilardoni, well-known professor of theBocconi University of Milan, passionate scholar of infrastructure and utilities, creator of theAgici research and analysis observatory, consultant to institutions and companies and founding partner and great friend of FIRST online.
Reason rebels against thinking that a person so full of vitality, enthusiasm, passion, ideas and projects like Andrea could leave so soon, but fate can sometimes be cruel. Andrea had a rare disease for which he had undergone a very delicate operation a few months ago which seemed perfectly successful, but unfortunately it was an illusion, because not even medicine can always work miracles.
Born in Milan and graduated with honors from Bocconi in Economics and Commerce, Andrea had become a professor at his university and until recently taught "Management of public utility enterprises"and "Strategies and alliances in public utility companies“. Rigorous professional and at the same time passionate about his studies, author of countless publications and researches, Andrea was not a traditional teacher and loved to verify the validity of theories in the field, going in person to visit the companies he studied and to discuss with the management.
For this he had founded an appreciated research and analysis center on infrastructures and utilities, theact, which had long since become an essential point of reference for all operators and scholars in the sector. But, in his eagerness to disseminate, Andrea also had another great passion, which was publishing. He had thus founded and directed a utility management magazine and from the first hour he was fond of FIRST online, which he helped found in the spring of 2011, becoming a partner. He was very proud of it and every time Andrea visited the Roman editorial office, FIRSTonline was animated by his enthusiasm and his thousands of ideas. But in addition to being a dear friend, Andrea was also an exemplary professional for his fairness. Several times it happened that FIRSTonline published articles that didn't fully correspond to his ideas, but – liberal as he was – Andrea never objected and always scrupulously respected the work of the editorial staff, a truly rare virtue especially these days.
Dear Andrea, we will miss you very much and above all your passion, your competence and your humanity. It's hard to think of you without your proverbial smile; your human and ideal strength will remain a point of reference for us. We will not forget you. Heartfelt thanks, Andrew.
* Saturday 26 June at 14.30 the Gilardoni family, colleagues and friends will greet Andrea at the Turati farewell house in via Bauer 19 in Milan.
** The entire FIRSTonline team participates in the pain of the family of Andrea Gilardoni and colleagues of Agici and extends the deepest and most moved condolences.
