“It has been said that each man lives many lives,”

Carlos Peña Romulo wrote. “The oddity of mine is in their complete diversity. Each might have been lived in a different country and a different age.”

Newspaper editor, army general, university president, ambassador, foreign minister, national artist, president of the United Nations General Assembly—any one of these illustrious positions would be enough to culminate a career or even define a life. Romulo packed all these accomplishments into one legendary lifetime.

Romulo grew up in the town of Camiling in the province of Tarlac. He was born within the Spanish walled city of Intramuros on January 14, 1898, at the twilight of one colonial regime and the dawning of another. His father, Gregorio, fought in the revolution for Philippine independence against Spain and, until surrender, the United States.

In World War II Romulo was aide-de-camp to General Douglas MacArthur. As a journalist he wrote a series of articles, after a tour of the Far East, about Japanese imperialism. For this he won the Pulitzer Prize in journalism.

His skill at using words made Romulo the logical choice to become “the Voice of Freedom,” which broadcasted news of the war effort to Filipinos and Americans alike. Often contrary to Japanese propaganda, Romulo’s reports earned the ire of the enemy, who put a price on his head. But Romulo kept broadcasting until the Fall of Bataan, and abandoned his post only after MacArthur’s strict orders to leave. He flew first to Australia, eventually ending up in the United States in exile, leaving behind his wife, Virginia Llamas, and four sons.

Standing only 5’4” in his shoes, Romulo often made fun of his height. His book I Walked With Heroes opens with the anecdote about being the newly elected president of the United Nations—the first Asian to ever hold the post—and having to be “perched atop three thick New York City telephone books” just to see and be seen by all the delegates below the podium.

Romulo—whose lifelong dream was to help build a body such as the United Nations—resolved to make the Philippines “the big voice of small nations.” As a signatory of the charter forming the United Nations in 1945, he spoke the famous line, “Let us make this floor the last battlefield.”

Dubbed by his colleagues “Mr. United Nations,” he was elected president of the United Nations General Assembly in 1949—the first Asian to hold the position—and served as president of UN Security Council four times, in 1981, in 1980, and twice in 1957.

Despite the triumphs, Romulo hit low points in his life. His eldest son Carlos, Jr., died in a plane crash in 1957, and his beloved wife of 44 years died in 1968, near the end of his terms as president of the University of the Philippines, his alma mater, and, concurrently, Secretary of Education.

“I had to be outstanding,” he once wrote, “to make the greatest effort to win, to prove I was capable not in spite of having been born a Filipino but because I was a Filipino.”

Romulo served a total of eight Philippine presidents. His career as a public servant spanned more than fifty years, including seventeen years as Secretary of Foreign Affairs and ten years as the Philippines’ ambassador to the United States. As a soldier he was a brigadier general in the US Army, receiving the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for his service during World War II, and a major general in the Philippine Army. As a writer he authored sixteen books, two plays, and works of poetry. In 1982 he was named a National Artist for Literature by the Philippine government. He was also conferred the first Bayani ng Republika Award for his outstanding service to the Filipino nation and the rank of Raja of the Order of Sikatuna, an honor usually reserved for heads of state.

He retired in 1984, intending to spend time writing with American author Beth Day, whom he married in 1979. It was a time of great uncertainty, as Benigno S. Aquino had just been assassinated, an incident for which Romulo felt deeply disappointed. He died in 1985, having served on the boards of a number of prestigious Philippine corporations. “The General,” as he was widely known, had received well over a hundred awards and decorations from other nations as well as over sixty honorary degrees from universities all over the world. Extolled by Asiaweek as “A Man of His Century,” he was the most admired Filipino in international diplomacy of the 20th century.