Andrei Postelnicu, (AIPES 98, IPJ 99) a successful international financial journalist and investment advisor, went missing on Feb. 7, 2014, when the private plane he was piloting crashed off the coast of Florida.

Postelnicu was a frequent guest lecturer at the TFAS American Institute on Political and Economic Systems (AIPES) in Prague. TFAS European programs director Matt Kwasiborski said, “Andrei loved AIPES and loved speaking to the current classes. His passion for geo-politics and his candid and entertaining way to always ‘tell it like it really is’ was a big hit every time he spoke at AIPES.”

Born in Romania on Jan. 31, 1977, Postelnicu graduated from Lindsey Wilson College and earned a master’s degree in international relations at Tufts University’s Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

He worked in New York and London as a financial journalist for prominent news organizations including the Financial Times, Bloomberg News, BBC and the Economist. He returned briefly to Romania in 2009, where he wrote for several publications and served as an advisor to a candidate for president of Romania. Most recently he worked for Moody’s Investors Service in London.

In 2010, he earned his private pilot’s license and took up the hobby of flying in Europe and on the East Coast of the United States.

“Andrei had a sharp intellect and a great sense of humor,” said TFAS Executive Vice President Steve Slattery. “He was truly in his element when he was engaged in discussion with a group of intellectually curious TFAS students.”