Friedrich Akel

Friedrich Akel studied languages at Tartu University, later earning a medical degree in 1897 from Tartu. Akel worked first as an assistant in the Tartu University Clinic, then was a doctor in the Reimers ophthalmology clinic in Riga, and in 1899–1901 served as a doctor in the Ujazdov hospital in Warsaw. He later studied in Berlin, Praha, and Leipzig and later opened his own private ophthalmology clinic.

In politics Akel served as a foreign minister in three cabinets and was Head of Estonian Government, as the Elder of State, from March to December 1924. He served in the Estonian Parliament from 1923-29 in the Riigikogu and from 1938-40 as a member of the Riiginõukogu. He was co-opted onto the IOC in July 1928, serving until he resigned four years later, but he never attended an IOC Session during his term. Akel was given numerous awards in Estonia, receiving the Order of the Estonian Red Cross I/II in 1927 the Order of the Cross of the Eagle I in 1935, the Order of the Estonian Red Cross I/I in 1936, and the Order of the White Star I in 1938.

In November 1940 Akel was arrested after the Soviet invasion. He spent eight months in a prison camp and was executed by an NKVD firing squad in July 1941.