Mikhail Gorbachev, former Soviet president who took down the Iron Curtain, dies | CNN

He was the most liked leader of the USSR. He wanted his nation to prosper
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LTC Eugene Chu
..."Speaking out post-presidency
Three years later, Gorbachev lost the love of his life -- his wife of 46 years, Raisa -- to cancer. The couple had one daughter, Irina. "In the worst moments I was always very calm and balanced. But now that she's gone -- I don't want to live. The central point in our lives is gone," he said.
But Gorbachev did go on, speaking out on nuclear disarmament, the environment, poverty -- and in his wife's memory, set up with the family the Raisa Gorbachev Foundation to fight children's cancer.
Previously, he had established the Green Cross  -- to deal with ecological issues -- and the International Foundation for Socio-Economic and Political Studies, or Gorbachev Foundation. In 2011, Gorbachev also launched the annual "Gorbachev Awards" to celebrate "those who have changed the world for the better."
Gorbachev's involvement in Russian politics continued as well. He was head of the Social Democratic Party of Russia from 2001 until his resignation in 2004 over conflicts with party direction and leadership.
In 2007, he became head of a new Russian political movement -- the Union of Social Democrats, which in turn set up the opposition Independent Democratic Party of Russia.
He told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in 2012 that he agreed Russian democracy was "alive" but added: "That it is 'well'... not so. I am alive, but I can't say that I'm fine." He explained that the "institutions of democracy are not working efficiently in Russia, because ultimately they are not free."...

He was a man who could collaborate with a sense of dignity very different from past leaders of the USSR.