John Havan

Who is John Havan?

John Havan was born in Paris, France in 1933. His Vietnamese father, a Sorbonne graduate in law, became Finance Minister under the administration of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem. His British mother, enrolled at the London School of Art, eventually became a painter who used Chinese calligraphy as a base for her brush-and-ink drawings of Vietnamese scenes. At home, the family spoke French.

Havan was educated in England, won a scholarship to St. Peter’s Hall, Oxford, where he read Jurisprudence for two years. From 1955 to 1972, he worked with American and European firms in the Asia-Pacific region in the fields of defense contracting, in particular spending the Vietnam War years, working for U.S. firms in South Vietnam. In 1956 he volunteered for two years' service in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam infantry, where he reached the rank of captain. During that period, he became fluent in his father's native language, Vietnamese.