People like Radu Florescu

Radu Florescu (23 October 1925 – 18 May 2014) was a Romanian academic who held the position of Emeritus Professor of History at Boston College. His work on Vlad Dracula includes a series of bestselling books that he co-authored with his colleague Raymond T. McNally. Along with serving as Director of the East European Research Center at Boston College, Florescu was also a philanthropist and an adviser to Edward Kennedy on Balkan and Eastern European affairs. At the time of his death, Radu Florescu was considered the patriarch of the Florescu family.

Florescu was born in Bucharest to an aristocratic family, one of the oldest of the extant Romanian boyar families. He left Romania at the outbreak of World War II and moved to London, as his father, a pro-Allied diplomat who served under Romanian Minister Viorel Tilea to the United Kingdom, defied a recall order from the pro-Axis government of Ion Antonescu. In protest of Romania's new alliance with Nazi Germany, Florescu's father resigned his post and joined the Free Rumanian Committee in opposition to the fascist Antonescu regime. After leaving St. Edward's School, Oxford, Florescu received a scholarship to study history (BA, MA) at Christ Church, Oxford. He moved to Indiana University-Bloomington in the United States for his doctorate.