Known as the ‘Barefoot Economist’, Manfred Max-Neef was an acclaimed Chilean ecological thinker and long-time Gaia advisor. Manfred devoted his life to promoting alternative forms of development that truly meet the needs of both human societies and the ecosystems upon which we all depend. One of the earliest critics of growth-based capitalist economics, Manfred was a father of the emerging de-growth movement, holding that “the fundamental value to sustain a new economy should be that no economic interest, under no circumstance, can be above the reverence of life”. He received the Rights Livelihood Award in 1983, in recognition of his outstanding work. Manfred died at home in Valdivia, Chile, on Thursday 8th of August 2019. He is much missed.