Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński (commonly known as Zbig) was a prominent Polish-American diplomat, political scientist, and geopolitical strategist born on March 28, 1928, in Warsaw, Poland. The son of Polish diplomat Tadeusz Brzeziński, he experienced the rise of Nazism during his family's posting in Germany before fleeing to Canada at the outbreak of World War II, where he spent formative years. Immigrating to the United States in 1953, Brzeziński built a distinguished academic career, becoming a leading figure in international relations and realism in geopolitics, influenced by thinkers like Halford Mackinder and Nicholas Spykman. He authored influential books such as 'The Grand Chessboard' (1997), outlining U.S. strategy in Eurasia, and was a key architect of the Trilateral Commission in 1973, promoting cooperation among North America, Europe, and Japan.

Brzeziński's government service peaked as National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981, where he played a pivotal role in shaping U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War. This included the normalization of relations with China, the Camp David Accords, and the response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He was the architect of Operation Cyclone, the U.S. initiative to provide covert support for Afghan mujahideen fighters. Earlier, he advised President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968. He was a professor at Columbia University from 1953 to 1989, where Zalmay Khalilzad worked closely with him from 1979 to 1989, an association that helped shape Khalilzad's early career focus on Afghanistan. Brzeziński later joined Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), he remained an influential voice in foreign policy circles post-administration, critiquing U.S. interventions and advocating for strategic containment of rising powers like Russia and China.

Brzeziński died on May 26, 2017, in Falls Church, Virginia, at age 89, leaving a legacy as a hawkish realist whose ideas shaped American grand strategy. His family included his wife Emilie Benes Brzezinski, a sculptor, and children including Mika Brzezinski, a prominent MSNBC journalist, and Ian Brzezinski, a defense expert. Throughout his career, he was known for his anti-communist stance rooted in his Polish heritage and experiences under totalitarian regimes.