Donald Blinken, a former US diplomat and father of current US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, died at the age of 96.

His son Antony shared the news of his father’s death on Twitter, calling him “a source of love and inspiration. Donald served as US Ambassador to Hungary between 1994 and 1997. Antony wrote on Twitter that his father had “lived with decency, dignity and modesty” and had served his city, state and country.

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Who was Donald Blinken?

Born in New York, Donald served in the Army Air Corps in World War II. He was a director and one of the founders of E. M. Warburg Pincus & Company, an investment bank in New York.

He served as the board chairman of the State University of New York, the nation’s largest institution of higher education, from 1978 to 1990.

Donald and his brothers Alan and Robert were born to a father originally from Kyiv and a mother also of Jewish heritage.

His grandfather was author Meir Blinken.

The brothers attended the Horace Mann School. Donald graduated magna cum laude in Economics from Harvard in 1948, after serving in the army.

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He was president of the Mark Rothko Foundation from 1976 to 1989. Donald also served as President of the Brooklyn Academy of Music from 1970 to 1976, and was appointed a member of the Special Presidential Nomination Panel for the US Court of Appeals by President Carter in 1979.

He was a founding Trustee of the Manville Personal Injury Settlement Trust, on whose board he served from 1986 to 1991.

He was awarded the US Department of Defense Award for Distinguished Public Service, and was the first US ambassador to receive Hungary’s highest civilian honor.