Feshbach, Murray, 1929-2019

Murray Feshbach (August 8, 1929 – October 25, 2019) was an American scholar focusing on the demographics of the Soviet Union and demographics of Russia, including population, health, and environment. He was a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center where he conducted research on the policy implications of the demographic, health and environmental crises in Russia.[1] He was a frequently turned-to source for both detailed analysis and a broad understanding of trends in the USSR and then the Former Soviet Union. His work had a major impact on the Western Bloc understanding of the Soviet Union, Russia and Eastern Europe. His role in sharing data, and in providing guidance to students and research assistants, helped shape a generation of scholars who came after him. Over time he moved from general demographic analysis to a focus on the impact of the Soviet population of problems in the health care system and ecological degradation. His pioneering article analyzing infant mortality trends in the USSR led to internal improvements which likely saved many lives. His first major book, "Ecocide in the USSR" with Alfred Friendly Jr., outlined the ways in which the medical system and environmental disasters were significant factors in the end of the Soviet Union. He was among the first in the West to identify a major decline in the size of the ethnic Russian population, and to grapple with its internal implications and its potential impact on Soviet and Russian policy.