In the Memory of a Dear Friend


The Estonian people have lost one of the greatest men who fought for the continuity of the Republic of Estonia. On September 4, 1998, Ambassador Ernst Jaakson died in New York. He passed away three weeks after his ninety-third birthday, in the 79th year of his uninterrupted service to Estonia.

These numbers are well known to the world of diplomats. Ernst Jaakson has been called a legendary diplomat. And yet it was not these extraordinarily long years of service that he was famous for. His prominent authority and the general respect for his opinions above all sprung from the truth that he always, under all circumstances, valued the continuity of the Republic of Estonia higher than his own interests or well-being. Ernst Jaakson witnessed the first steps of the Republic of Estonia and bore his homeland in his heart like his own childhood and his own future, with a gentle smile and a relentless striving for justice. He was an outwardly simple man of outstanding virtue, a man from whom everyone had and still has a lot to learn. Now, he has assumed his place in history books among the fathers of our country.

At the funeral of Ernst Jaakson, Chevalier of the Order of the White Star and the Order of the National Coat of Arms, the Republic of Estonia will be represented by Toomas Hendrik Ilves, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.


Lennart Meri

In Paslepa, on September 5, 1998

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