Master diplomat George Shultz, and his interworking with Soviet and Jewish affairs feature Master diplomat George Shultz, and his interworking with Soviet and Jewish affairs World Jewish Congress president Ronald S. Lauder once asked the longtime U.S. statesman, who passed away at the age of 100 on Feb. 6, why he stood up for American and Israeli Jews when he was often pressured not to. He responded: “Because I thought you were right.” (February 16, 2021 / JNS) The long-term secretary of state, George Shultz, who died on Feb. 6 at the age of 100, will be remembered most for his negotiations on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987 and the end of the Cold War. But more than that, Shultz told his biographer that he wanted to be remembered for securing the release of Soviet refuseniks, who for decades were denied the ability to immigrate to the State of Israel.