We know he'll never be forgotten
He was a king uncrowned
We know we'll always remember
The warmth of his smile
Lingering long we are sure he's still around

Roko Aliprantis has created and has tirelessly pushed forward these conferences.

Charalambos "Roko" D. Aliprantis, 62, died in West Lafayette, Indiana on February 27, 2009 after fighting lung cancer for over 6 years. He is survived by his wife Bernadette, his children Claire and Dionissi, and his brothers Christopher and Spiros.

Roko was born to Dr. Dionysios and Sofronia Aliprantis on May 12, 1946 in the village of Lakithra on the Greek island of Cephalonia. He was raised during some of the most turbulent years of modern Greek history, surviving hunger, disease, civil war, a catastrophic earthquake, and dictatorship. He came to the United States to study for his PhD in Mathematics at the California Institute of Technology, which he completed in 1973. Roko spent 22 years on the faculty at Indiana University Purdue University in Indianapolis, and the last 11 years at Purdue University in West Lafayette, where he was a Distinguished Professor of Economics and Professor of Mathematics.

Roko was noted not only for the clarity and elegance of his writing in both Economics and Mathematics, but also for his tremendous service to the profession. This included his organization of this biennial international conference on economic theory, The Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory, the founding of the scholarly journals Economic Theory and Annals of Finance, and his work as Editor-in-Chief of Positivity, a mathematical research journal.

In addition to his professional work, Roko was also deeply devoted to his family and proud of his Greek heritage. Some of his happiest times were spent with his family on summer trips to his beloved home island of Cephalonia. His family and peers regarded him as an intellectual leader and a fair-minded individual of integrity. Roko found beauty in Mathematics, History, Philosophy, Greek culture, and the natural world, and he believed strongly in the power of the human mind to improve the world.