Tributes were paid from around the world at the weekend following the death of the highly respected diplomat, Kofi Annan, the first black African United Nations secretary-general.
The news was broken by the statesman’s foundation, which said he died at the age of 80 after a short, unspecified illness.
Mr Annan spent virtually his entire career as an administrator in the UN.
He served two terms as secretary-general from January 1997 to December 2006, capped nearly midway when he and the UN were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.
During his tenure, he was forced to contend with one of the organisation’s most turbulent periods since its founding in 1945, overcoming scandals and failures.
Challenges from the outset forced him to spend much of his time struggling to restore its tarnished reputation.
His enduring moral prestige remained largely undented, however, both through charisma and by virtue of having negotiated with most of the powers in the world.
When he departed from the UN, he left behind a global organisation far more aggressively engaged in peacekeeping and fighting poverty, setting the framework for the UN’s 21st-century response to mass atrocities and its emphasis on human rights and development.
“Kofi Annan was a guiding force for good,” current secretary-general Antonio Guterres said.
“It is with profound sadness that I learned of his passing.
“In many ways, Kofi Annan was the United Nations.
“He rose through the ranks to lead the organisation into the new millennium with matchless dignity and determination.”
Even out of office, Mr Annan never completely left the UN orbit. He returned in special roles, including as the UN-Arab League’s special envoy to Syria in 2012.
He remained a powerful advocate for global causes through his eponymous foundation.