George Ignatieff Article Index for
George
Website Links For
George
 

Information About

George Ignatieff




He was born in St. Petersburg, Russia , the youngest of five sons, to a distinguished Russian family. His mother was Princess Natasha Mestchersky and his father was Count Paul Ignatieff , a close advisor to Czar Nicholas II serving as his last Minister of Education. In 1918 , the year after the Russian Revolution , Ignatieff was arrested and slated for execution but fled to Canada with his family after he was released by sympathetic guards.

George Ignatieff was educated at Canadian universities before obtaining a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford . In 1940 he joined the Department Of External Affairs and served at various posts including as Ambassador to Yugoslavia from 1956 to 1958 , permanent representative to NATO (1963-1966), Canadian Ambassador to the United Nations (1966-1969) and president of the United Nations Security Council (1968-1969). In 1984 he was appointed disarmament ambassador by Prime Minister John Turner . He also served as chancellor of the University Of Toronto from 1980 to 1986 .

He was made a Companion of the Order Of Canada in 1973.

His son, Michael Ignatieff , is a well known author, broadcaster and scholar who was elected to the Canadian parliament in 2006.


EXTERNAL LINKS