Martin Štěpánek (11.1.1947 - 16.9.2010)

Martin Štěpánek, a son of the actor Zdeněk Štěpánek acted in lots of Prague theatres. In 1981 he emigrated to Austria and then he moved to Germany where he worked for the Czech section of the Radio Free Europe as an announcer and later as a commentator. He returned to the Czech Republic in 1994 and continued the cooperation with the Radio Free Europe until 2002 when the Czech section of the radio was dissolved.

In September 2006 he accepted the offer of the Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek and was appointed as the Minister of Culture. He remained in this position until 9 January 2007 when the Topolánek's cabinet resigned as it had failed to gain confidence in the Parliament of the Czech Republic.

During the period of the second government of Mirek Topolánek, from January 2007 to May 2009, he worked as an external advisor of the Prime Minister for the cultural area and continued to work in this position also in the Petr Nečas’ government.

The funeral of Martin Štěpánek will be held on Friday 24 September at 1 p.m. at the Strašnice crematorium.