Vaclav Havel Dies at 75

Dec. 18, 2011 -- Former Czech president and hero of the Velvet Revolution Vaclav Havel, who steered his country to independence from Soviet rule in 1989, died on Sunday at the age of 75, his office said.

Havel died in his sleep at dawn after a lengthy illness, his secretary Sabina Tancevova said.

"In his last moment, his wife Dagmar was with him, together with one of the nuns who have been taking care of him in recent months," Tancevova said.

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The playwright and former dissident had grappled with breathing problems since he had part of his lung removed in 1996 to stop cancer.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas paid tribute to Havel.

"President Havel was a symbol of what happened here in 1989, he did a great deal for this country, for its peaceful switch to democracy. He was the symbol and face of our republic abroad."

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German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle hailed him as "the soul of the Czech revolution."

Havel's health woes stemmed from a poorly treated case of pneumonia he suffered while he was jailed by the Communist regime in the 1980s for dissident activity.

Havel was born in Prague on Oct. 5, 1936, into a wealthy family that lost its assets as the Communists took power in 1948.

He established himself as a leading figure on the scene of the Czechoslovak theatre of the absurd in the 1960s, before being banned from theatres after the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968.

He was responsible for drawing up Charter 77, a 1977 manifesto challenging the Communists to live up to their international promises to respect human rights, and he kept fighting the regime, which earned him five years in prison.

As Communism was toppled in the peaceful Velvet Revolution, Havel was the first-choice man to take the top job in Czechoslovakia, which split peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.

Havel married actress Dagmar Veskrnova, 20 years his junior, in 1997, following the death of his first wife Olga a year earlier. He had no children.

-- AFP

Photo: Former Czechoslovak and Czech President Vaclav Havel during an interview for the Czech Lidove noviny daily newspaper at his office in Vorsilska street on Jan. 18, 2011 in Prague. Credit: Lidove noviny/Ondrej Nemec/isifa/Getty Images