RIP, Leonard Liggio

Rest in Peace, Prof. Leonard P. Liggio, Executive Vice President of Academics at Atlas Economic Research Foundation, Washington DC, USA. He passed away October 14, 2014, he was 81.

I met Leonard first time in April 2004 when Atlas granted me an international fellowship for one month to the US, along with Ellen Cain of the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF). First in Chicago for the Atlas Liberty Forum, then at the Atlas office in Fairfax, Virginia then. It was my first exposure to other free market-oriented groups, think tanks and individuals from many parts of the world.

Atlas put this brief memoriam for Leonard today in their website:

Leonard’s career advancing liberty spanned seven decades, during which time he served as the President of the Mont Pelerin Society, the Philadelphia Society, and the Institute for Humane Studies, where he later continued to serve as its Distinguished Senior Scholar. He was a professor at George Mason University, a visiting professor at the Universidad Francisco Marroquín, a board member of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, and a Trustee of Liberty Fund. 

Alex Chafuen and the late John Blundell once wrote that, if F.A. Hayek was the great architect of the revival of classical liberalism, then Leonard has been its “great builder, building a worldwide movement… one career at a time.”

Then I met Leonard again in 2005 in Phuket, Thailand, when Atlas and the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF) sponsored a round-table discussion on "The Constitution of Liberty in Asia" where we discussed for one whole day Friedrich Hayek's book, "The Constitution of Liberty". He moderated the discussion, assisted by Colleen Dyble, then Director for Institute Relations of Atlas. I learned a lot from that forum. A few months before we went to Phuket, Atlas mailed to us participants a copy of Hayek's book. I remember that I had a hard time understanding Hayek's deep political philosophy then, but it was good that I re-read some of the chapters to appreciate the great Austrian economist-philosopher's thoughts.

Our group photo below. Two names I cannot remember now, I put as (?). Standing from left: Leonard, (? from Malaysia), Hiroshi (Japan), Minh Nguyen (Vietnam), Charu Chadha (Nepal), Nambiar (Malaysia), (? from India), Kang Chandararot (Cambodia), Yongqin (China), Chung-ho Kim (S. Korea).

Sitting from left: me, Mr. You (Japan), Paata Sheshelidze (Georgia), Cuoung Nguyen (Vietnam), Khalil Ahmad (Pakistan), Colleen Dyble (USA), Trupti Meetah (India), and Ellen Cain (Philippines). Liu Junning (China) was also there but he went outside when this photo was taken.

Yesterday, good friend and former VP for Institute Relations of Atlas, Jo Kwong, posted in fb:

Grateful to have the chance to visit Leonard Liggio today, my long time friend and mentor, to tell him how much he's meant to me all these years. Remembering our younger days.

Today, she posted, Rest in peace, Leonard. Could there be a more gentle, knowledgeable, insightful, thoughtful person? A gentle giant, a gentle teacher. How blessed we are to have known him.

I have met again Leonard in 2008 (Atlanta) and 2009 (LA, California) during the annual Atlas Liberty Forum. Jo Kwong looked for extra funding to allow me to travel to the US and attend those events, and met with other free market leaders from other parts of the world. Thanks once again, Jo. I will never your efforts then.

The Institute for Economic Studies-Europe (IES) produced this youtube clip in 2009, also in recognition  of Leonard's role in contributing to the liberty movement in Europe. They posted in fb with this note,

The movement of Liberty has just lost a giant. R.I.P Leonard Liggio. Here is a little tribute (showing just small part of his huge impact) made in 2009 for the 20 anniversary of IES-Europe which wouldn't exist without his help. (Appearing in the video: Jacque Garello, Jo Kwong, Tom G. Palmer, Douglas B. Rasmussen, Pascal Salin, Fred Smith, Tibor Machan, Randy Barnett, Henri Lepage, Victoria Curzon-Price, Douglas Den Uyl, Emmanuel Martin, Mario Rizzo, Gregory Rehmke, Christine Dunn Henderson, Pierre Garello)

Ozlem Caglar-Yilmaz of the Association for Liberal Thinking (ALT) in Turkey posted this photo, with Alejandro "Alex" Chafuen, Atlas President, and  Leonard.

Leonard is known more by North and South American and European classical liberal academics and think tank leaders. He may have not traveled much to Asia, so the Atlas-FNF event in Phuket in 2005 was a great way for us Asians to know him more.

Once again, rest in peace Leonard. It was great to meet you.
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See also:
Jo Kwong rocks, February 09, 2010
EFN Asia 2: Hayek in Asia, September 20, 2010

EFN Asia 2: Hayek in Asia

Around late September 2005, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation, in partnership with the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) sponsored the historic "The Constitution of Liberty in Asia" roundtable discussion (RTD) in Phuket, Thailand. For one day, around 20 of us, free market leaders and individuals from Asia, discussed half of a thick book -- Friedrich Hayek's "The Constitution of Liberty". The event was held one day before the Economic Freedom Network (EFN) Asia conference in the same hotel in Phuket.

I say "historic" because of the many conferences that I attended, that one really deepened my perspective and understanding about liberty and the rule of law.

The discussion was facilitated by Atlas VP, Prof. Leonard Liggio, who is himself a scholar on classical liberal philosophy. Good friend Colleen Dyble, with Atlas at that time, provided the technical and administrative support to Leonard. Below was our group picture.

From left to right, standing: Leonard, Toni (Malaysia), Hiroshi Yoshida (Japan), Minh (Vietnam), Charu Rizal (Nepal), Shankaran Nambiar (Malaysia), (forgot the man in blue shirt), Kang Chandararot (Cambodia), Wink Ho (China) and Chung-ho Kim (S. Korea).

Sitting, from left to right: me, Mr. You (Japan), Paata (Georgia), Cuong Nguyen (Vietnam), Khalil Ahmad (Pakistan), Colleen Dyble, Trupti Mehta (India) and Ellen Cain (Philippines).

Some of us there were working in not-exactly free market-oriented think tank, like the Malaysian Institute for Economic Research (MIER) where Nambiar is affiliated, is not exactly a free market think tank, it's a Malaysian government-owned think tank. But I know that Nambiar is a big Hayek fan.

Likewise, the Cambodian Institute for Development Studies (CIDS) is not exactly a free market think tank, but its head, Kang Chandararot, deeply appreciates the value of advancing individual freedom in the course of public policy research work.

The event was 5 years ago now and some of us have worked in various institutes, Including some Atlas staff who already resigned and pursued new careers in other think tanks in the US. The Asian scholars who went there still have a lot of Hayek molecules in their body. Junning was once called the "Hayek of China", Nambiar and Wan Saiful Wan Jan of IDEAS may also be considered the "Hayek of Malaysia."

I missed, or we all missed, Jo Kwong there, VP for Institute Relations of Atlas. Although she put a lot of hours and effort in helping organize that forum from her office in the US, she was not able to join us. It's good that her very friendly and also hard-working deputy, Colleen, was able to join us.

After the Phuket RTD on Hayek, I formed the ARBM2Phuket yahoogroups. Initially we were about 20 there, then it expanded to its current list of 90+ liberty-oriented people we included more like-minded thinkers from Asia and other friends in Europe and the US.

Last nght, IDEAS organized a discussion about Hayek's thoughts on political economy, and it was led by Nambiar. IDEAS is doing that event every third Monday of the month. More details at their website, the Bukit Tunku Society.

Hayek was a great thinker. His ideas permeated into the minds of people who push the ideals of individual freedom and liberty. Among the words that the man wrote, I like this one:

"Freedom and responsibility are two sides of the same coin. People who are afraid of responsibility are afraid of freedom itself."
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See also:
EFN Asia 1: From HK to Phuket to KL, September 16, 2006
Jo Kwong rocks, February 09, 2010