Leonidas Donskis

Leonidas Donskis (13 August 1962 – 21 September 2016) was a Lithuanian-Jewish philosopher, political theorist, historian of ideas, and social analyst. In addition to this, he was also a political commentator, professor of politics and head of "VDU Academia Cum Laude" at Vytautas Magnus University, Honorary Consul of Finland in Kaunas, and deputy chairman of the Lithuanian Jewish Community. He was also a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 2009 to 2014.

As a public figure in Lithuania, he acted as a defender of human rights and civil liberties. In 2004, Donskis was awarded the title of the ambassador for tolerance and diversity in Lithuania by the European Commission. A center-right politician, he was always opposed to all extreme or exclusionary attitudes and forms of violent politics, and, instead, was leaning to liberalism with its advocacy of individual reason and conscience, ability to coexist with democratic programs of other non-exclusive ideologies, and moderation.