Mr. Bush died on November 30 at the age of 94.

“It is with great sadness that we mourn the passing of President George H.W. Bush,” commented Ambassador Cameron Munter, CEO and President of the EastWest Institute. “His determination, resoluteness and commitment to the welfare of his nation set an example for leadership. His steadying hand during the closing days of the Cold War was emblematic of how he personally, and his generation, capably handled political turmoil and change.”

President Bush was awarded the EastWest Institute’s “Statesman of the Year” award in 1995 for his contributions which laid the groundwork for a new and free Europe while preserving the strength and vitality of the Euro-Atlantic relationship after the collapse of communism and the fall of the Berlin wall. He embarked on the first-ever visit of a sitting U.S. President to Czechoslovakia in 1990, outlining plans for an American aid package, and acknowledging the EWI’s role in opening a new center in the country, fostering intellectual exchange between European and American scholars.  President Bush also participated in EWI’s historic conference at the Prague Center, marking ten years after the fall of communism, alongside Czech President Vaclav Havel, Mikhael Gorbachev, and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, among others.