In Memoriam
Michael von Braun Nagel
April 23, 2021
Michael von Braun Nagel
1964 Yale graduation
Little did Michael von Braun Nagel know on the day he was born, August 10, 1941, in Frankfurt, Germany, that his life’s experiences would extend across the globe to nearly every continent and innumerable countries before his untimely death 79 years later in his beloved London on April 23, 2021.
He was the son of professional photographer Angelika Nagel, née von Braun, and noted physicist Dr. Max Nagel. In his childhood and youth Michael experienced the trauma of war in Berlin and resulting dislocation to Hamburg. Even though the family found tranquility in Schleswig Holstein after the war, they chose to emigrate to the United States in 1949.
Michael von Braun Nagel
2014 Yale reunion
The transition to the New World, while initially rocky for Michael, was also a valuable and enduring experience in adapting to new cultures and languages. It likely inspired his future proclivity for travel and appreciation of cultural diversity.
The family started in and around the midwest city of Dayton, Ohio, where father Dr. Nagel had a civilian appointment at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. From there, the family moved to the east-coast city of Boston, Massachusetts, the financial and cultural hub of America’s New England.
Graduating from high school in the neighbouring community of Winchester, Michael was among the select few accepted for admission to Yale University. Thus began Michael’s initial relocation to Europe, in that he chose to spend a year of his university education at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany. Following graduation with a B.A. from Yale in 1964, Michael completed work toward his M.B.A. at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, and Columbia University in New York City, graduating from there in 1967.
With his M.B.A. in hand and travel in his heart, professional opportunity in Europe beckoned: first at Smith Barney in Paris, then a number of positions in London-based offices of international financial institutions. Always remaining London-based, Michael would take up temporary residences in the Middle East, St. Petersburg, Warsaw, Bucharest, and elsewhere, enjoying every professional and personal experience each location could offer.
Of course, his peripatetic activity also presented a challenge to establishing sustained romantic relationships until, at a bus stop in Bucharest, Romania, he met his future wife, Adriana Oprea. She shared his passions for travel and cultural diversity and was happy to relocate to London. From the day they married on July 4, 1997, Michael had a life and traveling companion until Adriana sadly succumbed to cancer in 2013, an experience that left Michael bereft. With the help of many faithful friends and his adopted as well as extended family, and an increased willingness to venture abroad with others, Michael had emerged from his grief when struck unexpectedly by a heart attack on April 23.
His friend Ferdinand Balfoort wrote of him:
Michael has been a faithful son, brother, husband, mentor, and friend who faced the challenges of life with stoic resolve and without injunction. He was a greater, kinder spirit who always wanted to lend a helping hand. In honour and empathy he would thereby be a guide at every junction.
He will be missed by his family, friends, and adopted family globally. A celebration and remembrance of Michael’s life will be scheduled at a later date.
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