Otto Jelinek, former cabinet minister and world figure-skating champion, dies at 86

OTTAWA — Otto Jelinek, a former world-champion figure skater and federal cabinet minister, has died at age 86. His family said he died peacefully in hospital Saturday after living with Parkinson’s disease for nearly 20 years.

Born in Prague, Jelinek escaped communist Czechoslovakia with his family as a young boy. He and his sister Maria later represented Canada in figure skating at the 1960 Winter Olympics in California.

Jelinek then spent two decades representing the Oakville, Ont., area in federal politics. Under then-prime minister Brian Mulroney, he served as national revenue minister and held sport and multiculturalism portfolios. He left politics after considering a bid for the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party and was later appointed Canadian ambassador to the Czech Republic.