The leading Russian eye surgeon, Mr Svyatoslav Fyodorov (72), who invented a technique of treating short sightedness with a laser, was killed on Friday in a helicopter crash near Moscow. Three other people were also killed in the crash north-east of Moscow. The Russian Prime Minister, Mr Mikhail Kasyanov, said he was profoundly saddened by the news. "It's a tragedy for his relatives but also an incalculable loss for Russian medicine," he said.
The surgeon's laser technique won him a global reputation, with many foreigners travelling to his clinics to be treated. He was also a consummate businessman, with stakes in several Moscow casinos and a longtime member of Russia's list of the 10 richest citizens.
Mr Fyodorov, who wanted Russia to become a giant business as prosperous as his clinics, was a failed candidate in the 1996 presidential elections, standing against Mr Boris Yeltsin. He created his own left-wing political party in 1995, which won four per cent of the vote in legislative elections that year.
He was born in the Ukraine to a father who was a commander in the Red Army. His father became a victim of Stalinism in 1938.