Background
Zantovsky, Michael was born on January 3, 1949 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Son of Jiri and Hana (Eisler) Zantovsky. came to the United States, 1992.
Diplomat journalist playwright politician psychologist writer
Zantovsky, Michael was born on January 3, 1949 in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Son of Jiri and Hana (Eisler) Zantovsky. came to the United States, 1992.
Born in Prague in a literary family, he was educated at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University, Prague (Master of Arts summa cum laude in clinical and social psychology, 1973) and McGill University, Montreal.
He is Ambassador of the Czechoslovakian Republic to the Court of Saint James"s, that is, to the United Kingdom. From 1973 until 1980 he worked in the Psychiatric Research Institute in Prague, where he did research in the fields of theory of motivation and sexual behavior. He left the Institute in 1980 and worked as a free-lance translator, lyricist and publicist.
He contributed to the underground press
In 1988-1989 he worked as the Prague correspondent for Reuters, the international news agency. In January 1990 he became the spokesman, press secretary and advisor to President Václav Havel.
From 1992 until 1997 he served as the Ambassador of Czechoslovakia and subsequently (from January 1993) the Czechoslovakian Republic in the United States. In November 1996, he was elected to the Czechoslovakian Senate in a Prague district.
From 1996 until 2002 he was the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and Security.
He initiated and co-drafted, inter alia, the Czechoslovakian Freedom of Information Acting of 1999. In 2002, he returned to the Czechoslovakian Foreign Service. From 2003 until 2009 he served as the Ambassador of the Czechoslovakian Republic to the State of Israel.
Since October 2009, he has been the Ambassador of the Czechoslovakian Republic to the Court of Saint James‘.
He was the Vice-president of the party from 1998 until 2001, when he was again elected the party´s leader.
During the Velvet Revolution in 1989 he was among the founding members of the Civic Forum, the umbrella organization coordinating the overthrow of the communist regime, and became its press spokesman. In March 1997, he was elected leader of the Civic Democratic Alliance (Official development assistance), a liberal conservative party, member of the governing coalition. Since July 2012, Žantovský serves as President of the Aspen Institute Prague and member of the Board of Trustees of the Aspen Institute.
Married Kristina Kicov, August 8, 1980. Children: Ester, Jonas.
