Miodrag Perišić

Miodrag Perišić

Miodrag Perišić (born 31 July 1948 in Subotica, Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia — died 6 May 2003 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) was one of the founders and a former vice president of the modern-day Democratic Party (DS) in Serbia and a former FR Yugoslavia's ambassador in Canada. He was a prominent member of the modern democratic movement in Serbia and author of several books.

Perišić died of a heart attack on a treadmill during workout^[1] at the University of Ottawa, while carrying out his duty, a month short of his two year mandate. He was married to Žaneta Đukić-Perišić, with whom he has twin daughters. He is buried in the Novo Groblje, in Belgrade, Serbia

Biography

Though born in Subotica, Miodrag Perišić completed primary and secondary school in Belgrade. He received a BA degree in philosophy at Belgrade University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Department of Philosophy. During his studies he participated in editing and publishing of the journals Student and Vidici, and later worked as editor of the journal Književna reč (Literary Word). Perišić freelanced until 1978 when he started to work as Secretary of the Ivo Andrić Foundation in Belgrade until 1984. In the period from 1984 to 1992 he was editor-in-chief of the journal Književne novine (Literary Gazette).

Perišić was also an active member in the Serbian PEN Centre and a vice president of the International PEN, the worldwide association of writers.

In fall 1991, Perišić was a guest of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at the University of Stanford, California. In fall and winter 1991/92 he was a guest at several universities in United States and gave lectures about roots of Yugoslav crisis, role of the intellectuals, and causes of SFR Yugoslavia's disintegration. In November and December 1999, Perišić visited the seminary at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and gave lectures at the Taft University.

Perišić authored several books, and published anthology of modern Serbian poetry. His latest book title is 1995's Razvaline ideološkog raja (The Ruins of Ideological Paradise).

Political career

With a group of like-minded persons, including Zoran Đinđić and Vojislav Koštunica, Miodrag Perišić re-established the Democratic Party in Serbia in 1989. In summer 1992 he was elected as a member of the first Federal Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as the Minister of Information in the Cabinet of Milan Panić. In the same year, he was elected as the Democratic Party representative in the Federal Parliament. From 1994 to 2000 he was a Vice President of the Democratic Party, and in the period from 1996 to 2000 he was a federal representative elected by the Coalition "Zajedno" ("Together").

Perišić is one of the founders of the Council for Democratic Changes in Serbia, a non-governmental organization where he was the president of the Political Committee until December 2000. On October 5, 2000, he was amongst the citizens who welcomed the liberation from the oppressive regime of Slobodan Milošević on the great stairway of the Federal Parliament building. He was appointed an Ambassador of FR Yugoslavia in Ottawa, Canada in 2001 where he was highly appreciated by the Serbian immigration, working steadily on greater interconnectedness of the diaspora and its integration into political and social life of Serbia and Montenegro. Former Foreign minister Goran Svilanović emphasized that Perišić "with his dignity of an intellectual, had opened many doors which for others had been closed, in such a way succeeding to bring one small country, as it is Serbia and Montenegro, into the society of the great".^[2]

References

1. ^ The Ottawa Citizen (2003). "Serbian Ambassador Dies During Workout". http://www.balkanpeace.org/hed/archive/may03/hed5756.shtml. 
2. ^ Ministry of Foreign Affairs - SCG (2003). "Commemoration on the death of Serbia-Montenegro Ambassador Miodrag Perišić". http://www.mfa.gov.rs/Statement/120503_e.html. 

External links

• Interview for Vreme News Digest, 1996
• Interview for PBS during the opposition protests over election fraud in 1996
• Commemoration of Miodrag Perisic Held at Serbian Writers' Association - Belgrade, May 20, 2003
• Photos from the funeral of His Excellency, Mr. Miodrag Perišić

Further reading

• Miodrag Perišić. "Razvaline Ideološkog Raja" (complete text in Serbian)

Persondata
Name	Perisic, Miodrag
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	31 July 1948
Place of birth
Date of death	6 May 2003
Place of death