Milan St. Protic (1957) was born in a prominent Serbian family of politicians and in-tellectuals. His great grandfather was Serbian statesman and the first Prime Minister of Yugoslavia (1918-1920). His grandfather acted as the head of the Yugoslav Central Bank (1931-1939) and was the member of the Yugoslav cabinet (1941). His father was a renowned Yugoslav sportswriter and the official of FIFA.
Ambassador Protic graduated from Belgrade Law School (1980), but was not allowed to pursue an academic career for political reasons. Leaving the country, he continued graduate studies in the History department of the University of California (Santa Barbara) where he received M.A. (1982) and Ph.D. (1987).
Upon his return to Yugoslavia, Ambassador Protic joined the Institute for Balkan Studies as a research fellow. He was a visiting professor at UC Santa Barbara (1991-1992). He also lectured at universities in Thessaloniki, Paris, Cambridge, London, Har-vard, Washington D.C. and Toronto.
From 1991, Milan St. Protic took an active part in the opposition movement against the government of Slobodan Milosevic. He became one of the leading figures of the op-position movement and a member of its leadership in 1998.
On October 5, 2000 he was elected Mayor of Belgrade as the first official-elect of the new democratic government.
In March 2001, M. St. Protic was appointed Ambassador to the United States, but was recalled due to public criticism of the then Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and his policies.
He is the author of several books and TV documentaries about Serbian and Yugoslav 19th and 20th century history. In 2005, Ambassador Protic published his political auto-biography “The Democratic Revolution Betrayed” (vols.2, English edition 2006).
M. St. Protic is married and father of three daughters.
In May 2009, Dr. Protic rejoined the diplomatic service of the Republic of Serbia and was appointed Ambassador in the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Lichten-stein.