Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, special envoy of President Obama to Pakistan and Afghanistan passed away on 13 December. Ambassador Holbrooke played a key role in the founding of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) in 1980 as the government representative of the United States in the Canberra Seminar that led to the establishment of PECC. He was joined in the US delegation by Dr Lawrence Krause, The Brookings Institution and Mr Richard Wheeler, Senior Vice President, Citibank. 

Ambassador Holbrooke attended PECC I when he was  Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs. Before the event, he had given Congressional testimony in support of the “idea of a Pacific community.”  He support the creation of PECC and participated personally in its founding. 
He passed away at the age of 69 following surgery for a tear in his aorta. He is  survived by his wife, Kati, his sons David and Anthony, his step-children Elizabeth and Chris Jennings, his daughter-in-law Sarah.

See: http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2010/12/152782.htm

For a brief description of his role in the founding of PECC see: “The Birth of PECC: The Canberra Seminar” by Andrew Elek