Papandreou was born in Chios, Greece, the son of the leading Greek Liberal politician George Papandreou. In 1942 Papandreou enrolled at Harvard University, where he completed a doctorate in economics. He remained at Harvard as a lecturer and associate professor Until 1997. Andreas Papandreou was an intensely polarizing figure. He was a powerful orator and was adored by the working class, the elderly, and many people in rural Greece who found in him a champion for those brushed aside in Greek society (the "non privileged") and warmed to his populist attacks on the rich and his romantic nationalism. Papandreou was hospitalized with advanced heart disease and kidney failure in November 1995, and finally retired from office on January 1996. He died in June. His funeral procession produced a great outpouring of public emotion. Using one of his characteristic figures of speech, he "wrote history" even in his last public appearance.