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Alexandre Lamfalussy was one of the founders of the Triffin International Foundation and its President until 2008 (and Honorary President until his death). He was a committed and devoted supporter of a European political, economic and monetary union and one of the main “Architects of the Euro”.

Born in Kapuvár, Hungary, on 26 April 1928, he left his native country in 1949. He studied economics at Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) and Nuffield College, Oxford University (D. Phil. 1957).

From 1955 until 1975 he was with Banque de Bruxelles, becoming President of its Executive Board in 1972. In 1976 he joined the Bank for International Settlements, as Economic Adviser and Head of the Monetary and Economic Department, and served as General Manager from 1985 to 1993.

He was a member of the Delors Committee in 1988-89. In 1994 he became the first President of the European Monetary Institute, a position he held until June 1997. In 2000-2001 he chaired the "Committee of Wise Men" on the Regulation of European Financial Markets, and in 2008-2009 he was Chairman of the High Level Committee on a New Financial Architecture in Belgium.

He taught at Yale University and UCL. He was made a baron by the Belgian king in 1993 and was inducted into the French Légion d’honneur in 1999.

He died in Ottignies, Belgium, on 9 May 2015 (65th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration).

For an overview on his life and work we do recommend the interview book Alexandre Lamfalussy. The Wise Man of the Euro, by Christophe Lamfalussy, Ivo Maes, Sabie Peters (2014).