Stephan M Minikes

President George W. Bush nominated Mr. Minikes in 2001 to serve at the Vienna-based security organization. He held the position for four years and played a prominent role in meetings on the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe. Before his appointment, Mr. Minikes had practiced law for three decades in Washington and New York. He specialized in corporate and government contract law and spent much of his legal career with Thelen, Reid & Priest, where he was managing partner of the firm’s Washington office. He was among the “pioneers” who helped raise at least $100,000 for Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign. After leaving the OSCE, Mr. Minikes served on the boards of organizations such as the Hudson Institute and the International Republican Institute, both Washington-based think tanks. Stephan Michael Minikes was born in Berlin. He immigrated to the United States after World War II and became an American citizen as a teenager. His Jewish grandmother died in a Nazi death camp. Mr. Minikes graduated from Cornell University in 1961 and received a law degree from Yale University in 1964. Early in his career, he was legal counsel to the Navy’s chief of naval operations and a senior vice president at the U.S. Export-Import Bank. A marriage to Sarah Turner Minikes ended in divorce. Stephan is survived by his loving wife, Dede; Alexandra Radice, his daughter by a previous marriage; his son-in-law, Julian Radice and three grandchildren, Gabriella, Dominic and Antony Radice.