March 26, 2013 – Washington, D.C. – Anthony Lewis, a Pulitzer prize winning reporter, author, and intellectual passed away on March 25, 2013, just two days shy of his 86th birthday from renal and heart failure in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Mr. Lewis was born on March 27, 1927 in New York City and wrote for The New York Times op-ed page and The New York Review of Books, among other publications.

During the Bosnian War in the 1990's, Mr. Lewis wrote many articles regarding the atrocities that were occurring on the ground and advocated that the world stand up to genocide. "The tragedy in Bosnia is terrible now, the worst human disaster in Europe since the crimes of the Nazis. It is going to get a lot worse soon" stated Lewis exactly twenty years ago today in The New York Times op-ed column titled: Abroad at Home; Washing our Hands. Seemingly frustrated by the inaction of President Clinton at the time, Mr. Lewis wrote: "Clinton has other reasons for doing nothing. Britain and France oppose any military action, because the Serbs might then attack their soldiers who are acting as escorts for U.N. relief efforts. Boris Yeltsin would be embarrassed because of historic Russian ties to Serbia. There is some truth in those arguments. But they cannot obscure the reality: Clinton failed to take the bold action that would have made a difference. And now he has all but washed his hands of the Bosnian tragedy." Mr. Lewis also wrote about the "attempt by some Americans of Serbian ancestry to deny the reality of the Serbian aggression." Unfortunately, despite the well documented and proven facts, genocide denial is still prevalent in BiH and the region.

Anthony Lewis received his first Pulitzer Prize when he was 28 years old for reporting on the U.S. government's loyalty program and a second Pulitzer Prize in 1963 for his coverage of the United States Supreme Court. He is the recipient of the Presidential Citizens Medal from President Bill Clinton.

Anthony Lewis was a longstanding friend of BiH who through his powerful columns, gave the Bosnian people a voice by highlighting the atrocities that were occurring in BiH and calling on the world to get involved and stop the war in order to save innocent lives. ACBH remembers his steadfast commitment for peace and justice in BiH.