APS Member History

1	Name:	President Václav Havel
	Institution:	Former President of the Czech Republic
	Year Elected:	1995
	Class:	5. The Arts, Professions, and Leaders in Public & Private Affairs
	Subdivision:	503. Administrators, Bankers and Opinion Leaders from the Public or Private Sectors
	Residency:	International
	Living? :	Deceased
	Birth Date:	1935
	Death Date:	December 18, 2011

	One of the world's shining lights in the struggle for truth and freedom, playwright, essayist and prisoner of conscience Vaclav Havel served as president of the Czech (formerly Czecho-Slovak) Republic 1989 to 2003. Living proof of the proposition that intellectuals can greatly influence that struggle, Mr. Havel authored the "Velvet Revolution" in his country that peacefully swept the Communist regime from power and put the Czechs at the forefront of the Central and Eastern European nations converting to democracy. As an author, Mr. Havel had been awarded numerous international prizes, including the Austrian State Prize for European Literature (1968), the Olof Palme Prize (1989) and the Simon Bolivar Prize (1990). Among his many books and plays are Garden Party (1963), Protest (1978), Slum Clearance (1988), Disturbing the Peace (1990) and The Art of the Impossible (1997). His memoir, To the Castle and Back, was published in 2007, and his first play in 18 years, "Odchazeni" ("On Departure") had its premiere at the Archa Theater in Prague in 2008. Prior to his country's democratization, Mr. Havel's work was frequently suppressed by Czecho-Slovak authorities, and as spokesman for the Charter 77 human rights movement, he was variously persecuted, imprisoned and placed under house arrest for "subversive" and "antistate" activities. As a politician, he has been honored worldwide and in 1994 was presented with the presitigious Philadelphia Liberty Medal. In 1990 he led his nation to free elections, and even as former Czech Head of State, he continued to be recognized as a moral authority due to his courageous and unyielding stance through the years of Communist totality. Vaclav Havel died on December 18, 2011 at the age of 75 in norther Bohemia, Czech Republic.

2	Name:	Dr. Sadako Ogata
	Institution:	Brookings Institution
	Year Elected:	1995
	Class:	5. The Arts, Professions, and Leaders in Public & Private Affairs
	Subdivision:	503. Administrators, Bankers and Opinion Leaders from the Public or Private Sectors
	Residency:	International
	Living? :	Deceased
	Birth Date:	1927
	Death Date:	October 22, 2019

	Born in Tokyo in 1927, Sadako Ogata served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from 1991-2000, and in 2001 she served as co-chair, with Professor Amartya Sen, of the Commission on Human Security. In addition to her work with the United Nations, she was a Distinguished Fellow at the Brookings Institution and President of Japan International Cooperation Agency. Before her career as UNHCR, she was the Independent Expert of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on the Human Rights Situation in Myanmar in 1990, and from 1982-85 she was the representative of Japan on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. In 1978 and 1979 Ms. Ogata was Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations, having served as Minister there from 1976-78. A prominent academic figure, Ms. Ogata was Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Studies and Director of the Institute of International Relations at Sophia University in Tokyo, where she was also a professor starting in 1980. Ms. Ogata received her Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley in 1963. Her recent publications include "Refugees, A Multilateral Response to Humanitarian Crises," "The Movement of People," "Refugees in Asia: From Exodus to Solutions" and "Towards Healing the Wounds: Conflict-Torn States and the Return of Refugees." Sadako Ogata died October 22, 2019 in Tokyo, Japan, at the age of 92.

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