Vaclav Havel, former president of the Czech Republic who helped steer that country through it’s Velvet Revolution, has died at the age of 75. I will always remember the historic revolutions that swept the world in 1989, including the one that created the Czech Republic.

I learned last week that Havel was a huge Frank Zappa fan, too, and appointed Zappa to be a cultural consultant in 1990.

Dec. 18 (Bloomberg) — Czechs mourned the death of Vaclav Havel as world leaders lionized the former president and dissident who endured years of jail to become the first leader of post-Communist Czechoslovakia.

Black flags fluttered under gray skies at Prague’s Hradcany Castle, the seat of the president’s offices overlooking the capital, as government officials began planning the country’s biggest state funeral in decades.

via Czechs Mourn ‘Symbol’ Havel as Leaders Gather to Plan Funeral – Businessweek.