In memoriam, Peter Sutherland

With the passing of Peter, the World Economic Forum has lost a great friend and a personality who was absolutely essential for building the Forum into a true international organization with global impact.

He was the first of the political leaders I met who really understood the need for multistakeholder cooperation to address the challenges of our modern world. As a long-time Annual Meeting participant (his first time exactly 30 years ago), in his capacity as a member of our Board of Trustees from 1995 to 2013, as the Chairman of our Audit Committee, and in so many other ways, he contributed tremendously to our intellectual, organizational and financial development.

Peter was a mentor of mine. I could share with him any challenge and know that I would get frank advice rooted in his great conceptual capabilities, based on deep values which showed how caring a person he was.

Among all the leaders I have met during the past five decades, Peter was a great statesman serving society in innovative and visionary ways.

The Forum and I owe him for a substantial proportion of our relevance in global affairs, and we will always be grateful for his support and friendship. He will always be held in our highest esteem at the World Economic Forum.