Research Professor Tuomas Pekkarinen died of a sudden illness in his office in Helsinki on 29 November 2022. He was 50 years old, born in Espoo on 21 June 1972.
On the whiteboard in his office there remained a list of ten unfinished research projects. Their papers lay in a tall stack on his desk. Beside them was a black wax-covered notebook holding his essential notes.
For Pekkarinen, carefully conducted research was the most important means of changing the world for the better. He held to this principle as a researcher, teacher, and supervisor. His humane outlook on life was reflected in the fact that one could disagree with him completely without ever falling out. Pekkarinen guided and encouraged younger researchers, and many are grateful to him for it.
Pekkarinen earned his doctorate in economics in 2003 at the European University Institute in Florence. From 2017 he worked as a Research Professor at the VATT Institute for Economic Research. He specialized in the economics of labour and education.
Pekkarinen's best-known articles examined differences in achievement between girls and boys and how they develop, changes in social skills, the intergenerational transmission of education, and the effects of changes to the school system.
Before his death he had been finalizing a recently accepted article on upper-secondary educational choices and youth crime. His research influenced, among other things, the reform of the university admissions system.
Talking with Tuomas, one always learned something new. At times he chuckled good-naturedly at the Finnish media, yet read with great interest, for instance, "the best magazine in the world," The New York Review of Books. His mornings began by listening to foreign news broadcasts on the radio.
Among the arts, he was especially drawn to music. As a teenager Tuomas sang in the metal band Hammerhead, and later in Bioskop, a band that played alternative rock. During his student years he sang in the Ylioppilaskunnan Laulajat (YL Male Voice Choir). Tuomas often went to concerts abroad as well, most recently in Copenhagen this past June.
Besides science and culture, Tuomas's passion was football. He had a regular spot in the east stand of the Töölö football stadium, from which he followed the matches of HJK Helsinki football club, rain or sleet. He commented on the matches with the same humorous wisdom he brought to other phenomena of society.
Tuomas was also a caring and compassionate father, who showed that family life can be combined with an international research career. The family lived in Oxford, Uppsala, Boston, and London.
Tuomas was a modest, calm, persevering, helpful, warm-hearted, and precise person. His routines included three long runs a week, which he never let slide. He packed his running shoes for holidays and work trips alike.
Tuomas's family includes his spouse, economics professor Kristiina Huttunen, and their children Oona, Asta, and Konsta.