ISEG hereby publicly expresses its great sadness following the news of the death of Dr. Teodora Cardoso on the 9th September, 2023.
Dr. Teodora Cardoso graduated from ISEG in 1964, having started her studies as an undergraduate during the 1959/1960 Academic Year.
A competent technician with a solid education from our School, she confessed that it was the robust knowledge that she obtained from her first degree which "was, however, essential to allow her access to collaborate with various institutions, especially the Bank of Portugal", as well as to continue her higher education throughout her life.
She recalled the following in a personal statement about her time as a student at ISEG: "Seen from a distance, this was a somewhat exceptional period, with both positive and not-so-positive aspects. In my opinion, the most favourable aspect was having benefited from Professor Vicente Gonçalves' teaching in General Mathematics. The rigour and refusal to make things easy in his reasoning became paradigms for my life, which was later complemented by the quality of Professor Bento Murteira's teaching in Statistics and Econometrics. I owe both of them the laying of the essential foundations for the career I would go on to pursue."
After graduating from ISEG as an economist, her career was characterised by intellectual independence, a firm hand, rigour in carrying out analysis, and by discretion regarding the media which characterises the various positions that she held, where she always exercised total autonomy from either political or party power. She was a director of the Bank of Portugal, Chair of the Public Finances Board, and a member of the IGCP Advisory Board, all of which are institutions that count on the collaboration of people with her profile and ability.
The fact that she distinguished herself as she did, even though she was a woman living during the period in which she lived, further demonstrates the courage, determination, and value that she possessed, as well as the social benefit that we all stand to gain from her work and example.
Remembering that she symbolises the values of intellectual independence and the rigour of analysis that ISEG continues to pass on to all those who study, teach, and work here, we bid farewell to Dr. Teodora Cardoso in a spirit of thanks for all that she has done for us, embracing the collective pride that we all feel.
A loss for society and a loss for the collective of economists.
João Duque
The Dean of ISEG
