Arnaud de Borchgrave is Editor-at-Large of The Washington Times and Senior Advisor of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, D.C.

Dr. Pak always listens to experts. They tell him what can't be done and why. Then he does it. As a leader, he is a dealer in hope. During my years of working with him, he always kept an element of surprise up his sleeve, which we had difficulty grasping, but which kept us excited and breathless. Dr. Pak practices the art of getting others to want to do something he is convinced should be done.

He did not lead the anti-communist crusade with question marks, but with exclamation points. His contributions on the ramparts of freedom were, first, on the battlefields of Korea where he fought valiantly to repulse the North Korean invasion (1950-53), and then on the battlefield of ideas where he fought relentlessly throughout the Cold War against Communist totalitarianism. War, he said, is horrible, but slavery is worse.

Dr. Pak perceived the beginning of the end of the Soviet empire long before his conservative colleagues. Again, he took the lead for the inevitable change in thinking and attitudes. The anticipation of change is often more upsetting than change itself, but Dr. Pak's proselytizing painted a future full of post-Communist promise. He knows that a courageous foe is better than a cowardly friend.

He also knows that leadership means to take his followers from where they are today to where they have never been. That is what he did with The Washington Times. When I had the privilege of serving as Editor-in-Chief of The Times, Dr. Pak inspired with lofty goals of freedom and never did any backseat driving. He understood the principles of American journalism better than most U.S. newspaper owners. He believed that newsrooms should be independent of ownership.

During my early years as the Editor, I was living at The Times and Dr. Pak knew I never went to bed in my office until the second edition had been put to bed. He frequently called me at the end of those exhausting 18-hour days, sometimes as late as 2 a.m. It was always to offer words of encouragement and to congratulate me for a scoop that had caught up with him somewhere in Europe or Asia. A better and more loyal friend one could not hope for.

A soldier-scholar, Dr. Pak is an intellectual, spiritual, and business leader who demonstrates that perfect courage means doing unwitnessed what we would be capable of with the world looking on.

Dr. Pak's is a life of storm, fighting all the way for good against evil, never a pause, never a truce, never a rest. He never takes no for an answer and never submits to failure. He has no patience with people who are always raising difficulties.

One mark of a great man is the power of making a lasting impression upon those he meets. High principles, ambitious aims, abiding faith, and a good heart are Dr. Pak's hallmarks which enabled him to chart his course in life. Courage is the very first of human qualities because it is the guarantee of all others. Dr. Pak has it in spades.

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