Sir Nicholas Winton, one of the world's most admired for taking courage to save children destined for Nazi camps during World War II, had died at age 106. Winton, a British stockbroker and finance executive by profession, will always be known for organizing the rescue of 669 children destined for Nazi concentration camps in 1939 from Czechoslovakia, according to the New York Times.
Winton lived a low-profile life and it was only 50 years after that his noble deed was made known to the world. In 1988, his wife discovered an old scrapbook that detailed the rescue of the Jewish children from Czechoslovakia in 1988.
At a dark time when it was close to impossible to travel across Europe and bring unaccompanied children to safety, Winton faced bureaucracy and bribery at all ends. He prevailed with the help of colleagues and his own mother and was able to save the 669 children. He attempted to bring in 919 but the 250 did not make it.
"I work on the motto that if something's not impossible, there must be a way to do it," he said in a 2001 interview with the New York Times.
Among the children that Winton saved became well-known during their new lives. The New York Times listed film director Karel Reisz, who made "The French Lieutenant's Woman" (1981), "Isadora" (1968) and "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" (1960); Lord Alfred Dubs, who became a member of Parliament; Joe Schlesinger, a Canadian broadcast correspondent; Hugo Marom, a founder of the Israeli Air Force; Vera Gissing, the author of "Pearls of Childhood" (2007) and other books; and Renata Laxová, a geneticist who discovered the Neu-Laxová Syndrome, a congenital abnormality.
Winton's son-in-law Stephen Watson said he died peacefully in his sleep at Wexham Hospital, Slough, BBC reported.
