US diplomat who backed former dissident leader Václav Havel dies at 95

William H. Luers, who served as ambassador to communist Czechoslovakia in the mid-1980s and went out of his way to protect the persecuted writer and dissident Václav Havel, has passed away at the age of 95, The New York Times reported.

During his tenure in Prague, Mr. Luers enlisted dozens of American cultural celebrities to visit the Czech capital, meet with Vaclav Havel and shine the spotlight on him at news conferences outside the reach of the government-controlled Czech news media. The recruited celebrities included the novelists E.L. Doctorow, Kurt Vonnegut and William Styron.

William H. Luers served as US ambassador to Czechoslovakia from 1983 to 1986, after which he retired from the Foreign Service.