In 1997 I met Andre after speaking at Haas and together we co-founded Emptor, what would eventually become Accept.com and eventually Amazon Payments.

  We were a few years before Paypal but we had the same vision, and Andre saw the potential immediately. 

Those early days were wild including dealmaking with eBay when it was about 20 people.  He and I had a two day adventure to drive to Esther Dyson’s Pc Forum where we stayed at a $30/night motel in the desert where I was awakened by an enormous cockroach on my chest. I still have the gift mug.

Emptor was a big success despite how early we were; if it were not for Andre my life would have taken a much different direction.

Andre was always a kind, thoughtful, patient and supportive friend and co-worker. We tried to stay in touch —but the last time we saw each other was pre-covid when we he took our sons on a tour of Berkeley.

I will really miss him— I am crushed by this news.  My sincerest condolences to his family.

I am heartbroken to hear about Andre’s passing. I knew him from Haas. He was in the class ahead of me and a big part of the entrepreneurship culture there in the late 90s. He advised me on my early startup ideas and was one of the first people I met with when I moved back to Boston. I’ll never forget his enthusiasm, his curiosity, love of tech and entrepreneurship. He was always cooking up something big, new and exciting.

I’m glad he was able to impact so many others running the Entrepreneurship Center and teaching. I feel lucky to have known him in those earlier days and to have learned from him, even in small ways.

My heart goes out to his family, friends, classmates and colleagues. It’s a big loss.

My deepest sympathies to the Marquis family. 

Sharing some personal thoughts and my gratitude below:

My colleague and friend Andre Marquis passed away about a week ago. The news was profoundly sad and unexpected -- we had been speaking regularly over the past few months about new collaborations in Mexico and Brazil.

Andre was a wonderful person, a successful entrepreneur, and a uniquely talented educator. As Executive Director of the Lester Center and Faculty for the Launch accelerator, he was a driving force in entrepreneurial education at Berkeley-Haas. He touched the lives of many students and entrepreneurs at Berkeley and around the world. Through his company Hypershift, he worked with numerous corporate innovation teams and startup founders in the US and internationally.

I had the honor of collaborating with Andre in the Berkeley-Haas Lean Startup program in Brazil during 2016-2017 and learned much from him and Mark Searle, his partner at the Innovation Acceleration Group at Berkeley. The Brazil program left a lasting impression on our students in Florianópolis and Rio de Janeiro. It was also transformational for our university partners UDESC-ESAG and UFRJ-COPPEAD, which adopted the Lean Startup curriculum, under Andre's guidance.

Thank you, Andre, for the collaboration, for sharing your knowledge, and for your generosity. We will miss you.

I looked up to Andre at Brighton High.  He was a big fish in the nerdy boys crowd but was always cooler,  savvier, more worldly - and with a vastly wider social circle.  For a time, we both worked as stock boys at Fay's Drug store.  I stayed, rising to head cashier.  Andre leveraged his connections to move on to that job at the Nuclear Physics lab.  See what I mean?

I appreciate that he made an effort to keep in touch.  Years later, he somehow spotted me on a work trip at SFO airport.  He sensed that the group I was travelling with was On a Mission, but reached out a few days later.   I found out that I still look up to him.

I will especially remember Andre's quirky sense of humor.  He was a great friend.

 I am deeply saddened by the loss of my mentor and guide. His consistent wisdom, kindness, and support played a significant role in shaping my professional path. He was more than a mentor—he was a source of guidance and reliability, always offering thoughtful direction and encouragement.

His absence is strongly felt.  My heartfelt condolences to the family during this incredibly difficult time. I know there are no words that can truly ease the pain of such a loss, but please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.

Thorina, I can’t stop thinking about you. I didn’t even know Andre and yet I feel his passing so strongly. For you. I know we haven’t seen one another in years but I want you to know I feel your heart. Was he ill for some time?

Love and hugs

Wendy

Dear family of Andre, the loss of Andre has deeply shaken me. Even though we weren’t in regular contact over the past year, his influence is ever-present — in how I approach business, ideas, and learning. Andre fundamentally changed the way I think and observe the world. He sparked something in me that continues to guide and inspire my path every single day.

I feel a strong connection to Andre — through shared curiosity, dedication, and a deep belief in the good in people. I was incredibly fortunate to work with him. I will always remember our time together: the many conversations, the trips to Lima, the calls, his thoughts on my thoughts, events, and the dinners we shared during his visits to Berlin. These moments left a lasting imprint.

Andre was — and will remain — a role model to me. I carry his lessons in my heart and will share it, with gratitude and respect.

With deepest sympathy,

Stephan (from Berlin, Germany)

We go back … as he would say … back in the day. I found him on ARPA net. He had been hacking the UNIX kernel since age 14 at the computer center of the University of Rochester, where his parents were on faculty. He came to Penn; we had the first set of Sun Microsystem boxes in Philadelphia.

In 1984, we saw Spinal Tap together in the theatre … back then … that was the only way to do it. Like the movie, our lives were improvised at Penn, Eidetic, and Chorus. We had a friendship that hovered above the patched collage of work relations that coalesces with time and technology.

He was always current; on Halloween in 2004 he showed up at my apartment as Ali G … Respect. Do you remember he had a chortle, a low laugh with occasional high notes as he was understanding something or just amused.

I am thinking of a line from Apocalypse Now. “It was impossible to tell my story without telling his.” I would have thought that he would be telling mine. This was so sudden.

Neil

Thorina, I am so sad to hear of your terrible loss. My heart goes out to you. I remember meeting Andre when I visited SF several years ago to see my daughter Lara. He was so very warm and kind.

A big hug,

Gretchen