Jovan Donev, university professor and former ambassador, dies at 71
Donev died in Skopje on September 2, 2026; he served as North Macedonia's ambassador to the UK from 2013 to 2017 and was a longtime scholar.
Jovan Donev, a university professor, historian and former diplomat, died in Skopje on September 2, 2026. He was 71 years old.
Longstanding academic and diplomatic career
Donev graduated from the Faculty of Law at St. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje in 1979, earned a master's degree in 1986 and completed his doctorate in 1993. His research focused on Macedonian history, international relations and geopolitical processes affecting Macedonia and the Balkans.
He built his academic career at the Institute for National History in Skopje, where he rose to the rank of scientific advisor and full professor. Donev also lectured at several higher-education institutions, including American College Skopje and the Faculty of Law "Justinian I".
From 1999 to 2012 he served as executive director of the Institute for Social and Humanistic Research "Euro-Balkan", and earlier he was director of Ohrid Summer University. In the 1990s he was president of the board of the Open Society Institute Macedonia, under the patronage of philanthropist and financier George Soros.
In his diplomatic career, Donev was ambassador of the Republic of North Macedonia to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, based in London, from 2013 to 2017. During the same period he was also accredited as ambassador to Ireland and Iceland. In 2017 he served as a member of the Security Council of the Republic of North Macedonia.
Donev authored and co-authored numerous scholarly works on history, international relations and foreign policy. Notable among them are studies on Macedonia in international treaties, the great powers' approaches to the Balkans, and the Macedonian question during the Balkan Wars. In recent years he remained active as a columnist and political analyst.
Photo: press material from the event
