Environmental activist and EEB Board member Daniel Lešinský passes away

We are deeply saddened to learn that Daniel Lešinský passed away on October 7, 2020 at the age of 45.

For many years, Daniel played an active role in some EEB working groups and at our Annual General Assemblies, and from 2017 he represented the Slovak members of the EEB on our Board.

Daniel was active in the third sector and tirelessly worked on projects aimed at environmental protection, air and sustainable agriculture. He was co-founder and chairman of the association CEPTA – Center for Sustainable Alternatives, based in Zvolen, Slovakia, and contributed with his expertise and insights to furthering discussions in different forums and on different environmental issues.

For many, it is his activism in promoting good air quality that will be the most remembered. In a public Facebook post on the page of the Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic, Juraj Smatan, Secretary, expressed his appreciation for Daniel’s role in raising interest in air quality in Slovakia and  pushing for the hosting of a Clean Air Dialogue in Bratislava.

According to Smatan, “His activities went beyond Slovakia and he became the voice of the EU citizen, a ‘clean air advocate’, appealing for better EU air protection policies on many European forums (…).”

Beyond Slovakia, at the European Commission, the DG Environment’s Clean Air Team remembers him as “an important sparring partner and clear voice in the context of the Clean Air Dialogue and EIR Country Visits with Slovakia, the Clean Air Forum, as well as during several of the EEB meetings we joined.”

The reactions to the news of Daniel’s passing from our network bear testimony to the indelible positive mark he has left on so many of us. He was described as knowledgeable, smart, solid, committed, vigorous, energetic, unfiltered, always speaking his mind, not adhering to political correctness, having a zest for life; They remembered his powerful voice, his bright smile, his special energy and saw him as a “a piece of the ideal world”, and “a bright and constructive light”.

At EEB we will remember him as one of our – and the world’s – ­most passionate and earnest advocates. Daniel Lešinský, you will be missed.

Friends and family will bid Daniel their last farewell on October 15, 2020 at 2:00 p.m. at the cemetery in Orechov, Slovakia.