Robert Edward Barnwell Lucas

As Bob would have joked, he took "Death on the Nile" a little too seriously. He spent his final days on the vacation of a lifetime with his wife, Sarah, cruising the Nile River and taking in the Valley of the Kings, the burial ground where dozens of Egyptian Pharaohs made their own journey into the afterlife.

Bob was raised by his mother, Doris Lilian Moore, and his father, Herbert Lucas, in Market Harborough, England in the aftermath of World War II. He was the first person in his family to graduate high/secondary school. Bob went on to earn a First Class B.Sc. & M.Sc. in Economics from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as a Kennedy Scholar. He spent his career studying development economics, trade, and the impact of migration on families and communities. A rural to urban migrant himself, he authored several books, including his latest publication Crossing the Rural Divide: Rural to Urban Migration in Developing Countries in 2021. Bob also taught countless students during his 49 years in Boston University's Economics Department.

Bob was an avid traveler, climber, musician, and New England Patriots (American) football fan. He was invited to join the Leicestershire County School of Music's Orchestra as the double bass player at the age of 11, an experience that would have a profound impact on his life and lead to many lifelong friendships. He performed with the Orchestra throughout not only Leicestershire but also Europe – his first trips outside of England. At the age of 16 and at the urging of his father, Bob earned a scholarship to attend the Outward Bound School at Moray in the North of Scotland. Despite the course's best efforts – including sailing through a hurricane off the coast of Scotland – Bob was not deterred from the outdoors. He joined the climbing club at LSE, spending many weekends driving throughout the UK to go rock climbing with friends and even went on to hike part of Mount Everest. He lived in Sweden and India, road-tripped around the Black Sea, spent a month on honeymoon in South America, and was invited to meet Nelson Mandela while working in South Africa.

While he lived a full life, his family will remember him most for stories told at the dinner table, his quick-witted "dad jokes", and his endless love.

He leaves behind his wife, Sarah Lucas of Alexandria, Virginia; two daughters, Hayley White of Reading, United Kingdom and Kylie Ho of Washington, District of Columbia; two sons-in-law, Sean White and Andrew Ho; and two grandsons, Finnegan White and Graham Ho. Bob was predeceased by his sister, Elizabeth "Betty" Johnson of Aylesbury, United Kingdom.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date in Market Harborough, United Kingdom. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make donations in Bob's honor to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (https://give.doctorswithoutborders.org).