TALLINN - Former Estonian President Lennart-Georg Meri has passed away at the age of 76. The former head of state, who was a key figure in Estonia's independence movement, died at 3:40 a.m. on March 14 at Tallinn's Magdalene Hospital.
Meri had been fighting a brain tumor for months, according to the Postimees daily, and was recently hospitalized for treatment.
Although the President's Office has not provided details on his illness, it was no secret that, for several years, the former president had been suffering from serious health problems.
Meri served as Estonia's head of state between 1992 and 2001.
According to the Postimees daily, Meri had long been fighting a tumor with metastases forming in the brain. The president's health took a turn for the worse last summer, and he underwent brain surgery in August. After the surgery, his situation temporarily improved.
Lennart Meri was born on March 29, 1929, in Tallinn to an artistic and diplomatic family. His father, Shakespeare translator Georg Meri, was both an inspiration and influence to the young boy growing up. Lennart Meri left Estonia at an early age to study abroad, and spent his years at nine different schools in four different languages. His warmest memories are from his time at Lycee Janson de Sailly in Paris.
When Estonia was occupied by Soviet armed forces in 1940, Meri was living with his family in Tallinn. A year later, they were deported to Siberia along with thousands of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians. At the age of 12, Lennart Meri started his career as a lumberman. He also worked as a professional potato peeler and a rafter.
The Meri family survived life in the Gulag, and found their way back to Estonia, where Lennart Meri graduated cum laude from Tartu University's faculty of history and languages in 1953.
The Soviet administration did not allow him to work as a historian, so Meri found work as an actor in the Vanemuine Theater, the oldest in Estonia, and later on as a producer of radio plays.
After a trip to the Tian-Shan Mountains in Central Asia, and the old Islamic centers of the Kara-Kum Desert in 1958, Lennart Meri wrote his first book, which was met with warm reception. Already as a student, Lennart Meri had to scrape by a living through writing, since his father was arrested by Soviet powers for a third time. With the help of his younger brother, who had to quit his studies and take a job as a taxi-driver, he managed to support their mother and complete his studies.
For a quarter of a century, the to-be-president wandered alone or with expeditions across the desolate regions of the Soviet Union, where he was fascinated by the cultures of small ethnic groups, the history of Siberia's colonization, and the constantly deepening economic and ecological conflict between the locals and Moscow. Meri wrote prolifically during his travels, managing to publish several books and even some films, which penetrated the Iron Curtain. Today, his work has been translated into a dozen languages.
In 1986, Lennart Meri was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of the Helsinki University. He was already a member of the Estonian Writers' Union, and in the 1970s had been elected Honorary Member of the Finnish Literary Society.
During Estonia's struggle for independence, Lennart Meri was appointed to the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs on April 12, 1990 by Edgar Savisaar, leader of the Popular Front. This monumental moment came after Estonia's first non-communist elections.
Lennart Meri's first task was to create the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, employ studious young people, and establish a steady communication channel to the West. At the same time, he would represent Estonia during international conferences.
After a brief period as ambassador of Estonia to Finland, Lennart Meri was elected President of the Republic of Estonia. He was sworn into office on October 6, 1992. On September 20, 1996, the president was re-elected for a second term.
Lennart Meri, who married twice, is survived by his wife Helle Meri. Meri's first wife, Regina, emigrated to Canada in 1987. Lennart Meri has three children: sons Mart and Kristjan and daughter Tuule.
