George Soros (Soros George)

(p. 1930), was born in Budapest (Hungary), August 12, 1930. He survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary. He emigrated from communist Hungary in 1947 and settled in the UK. He graduated from the London School of Economics in 1952. During the study met with the works of philosopher Karl Popper. Popper's ideas about the 'open society', . of tolerance and political institutions, . employees to the needs of people, . as well as the lack of any group of monopoly on truth, . profoundly influenced the thinking of Mr. Soros and his future professional and philanthropic activities,
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In 1956, Mr. Soros moved to the United States, where he began amassing great fortunes while working in an international investment fund he founded and directed by. Today he is president and chairman of Soros Fund Management LLC, a private firm specializing in investment management and senior advisor of many international investment companies Quantum Group of Funds. In July 2000, Mr. Soros has made the merger of its flagship Quantum Fund with the Quantum Emerging Growth Fund, as a result of which was founded Quantum Endowment Fund.

Mr. Soros has been active in philanthropic work since 1979, when he organized a fund to support black students covered by the University of Cape Town in apartheid South Africa. Currently he is chairman of the Institute Open Society Institute (OSI) and the founder of a network of philanthropic organizations active in more than 50 countries. Located mainly in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, as well as in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the United States, these funds are intended to establish and maintain the infrastructure and institutions of an open society. In 1992, Mr. Soros founded Central European University main campus in Budapest. In 2000 the Soros foundations network spent 494 million. dollars to support projects in education, health, civil society and many other areas.

Substantial assistance Mr. Soros has Russia and the former Soviet Union. In 1987 he took the initiative to help open society in Russia as part of the Soros foundations network. Over the past 15 years, a network of Soros foundations support programs and organizations of civil society in Russia, . promote good governance, . Higher Education, . Human Rights, . media freedom and freedom of access to information, . as well as the development of libraries and public institutions, . especially in poor rural areas,
. In addition to its funds based on the entire territory of the former Soviet Union, Mr. Soros in 1992 created the International Science Foundation (ISF), . to help scientists in Russia and the former Soviet bloc to survive the difficulties of transition, . without interrupting their studies and not emigrating to other countries,
. Handed out with MNF over 115 million dollars ($ 500 per scholar), Mr. Soros has played a significant role in reducing the brain drain and preventing the use of intellectual and scientific resources of Russia in destructive purposes.

Mr. Soros is the author of seven books, the latest of which - George Soros on Globalization (George Soros on Globalization. Public Affairs, March 2002). His articles and essays on politics, society and economics regularly appear in the central press and magazines around the world. Mr. Soros has received honorary degrees at the New School for Social Research, University of Oxford, the University of Economics in Budapest, Yale University. In 1995, University of Bologna awarded Mr. Soros's supreme symbol of distinction - Laurea Honoris Causa - in recognition of his efforts to support open societies around the world.