Ilie Verdeţ

Ilie Verdeţ
Prime Minister of Romania
In office 29 March 1979 – 21 May 1982
President	Nicolae Ceauşescu
Preceded by	Manea Mănescu
Succeeded by	Constantin Dăscălescu
Personal details
Born	10 May 1925(1925-05-10) Comăneşti, Romania
Died	20 March 2001(2001-03-20) (aged 75) Bucharest, Romania
Political party	Socialist Labour Party (1990–2001)
Other political affiliations	Communist Party (1945–1990)
Spouse(s)	Reghina Ceauşescu (1947–2001)
Alma mater	Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies

Ilie Verdeţ (10 May 1925 – 20 March 2001) was a Romanian politician.

Born in Comăneşti, Bacău County, and a miner from age 12, he joined the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) in 1945. After graduating from the Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies, he climbed through the Party apparatus. By the early 1960s he was working in the central office of the PCR in Bucharest, as deputy of Nicolae Ceauşescu, who was in charge of party organization and appointments. After the death of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej in March 1965, Verdeţ helped Ceauşescu gain the post of Secretary General of the PCR.

Soon afterwards, Verdeţ was promoted to the Permanent Bureau of the Political Executive Committee of the PCR. He held many political posts, including those of Deputy Prime Minister (1966-1974) and Prime Minister of Romania (1979-1982). He was sent by President Ceauşescu to solve the Jiu Valley miners' strike of 1977, but was unable to negotiate and was held hostage for two days (a notion he later denied).

After the fall of Ceauşescu in December 1989, Verdeţ declared himself the head of a provisional government, but it only lasted for about 20 minutes, after which he was pushed aside by Ion Iliescu, who emerged as the leader of the National Salvation Front. Verdeţ founded in 1990 a party named Partidul Socialist al Muncii (Socialist Labour Party), which narrowly entered Parliament in the 1992 elections [1]^{[citation needed]}, but in subsequent elections failed to win any seats. He stayed on as party chief until the 2000 elections, after which he was removed from his post.

Verdeţ and his wife Reghina (a sister of Nicolae Ceauşescu), were married in 1947. They had two daughters: Doina (b. 1948) and Cezarina (b. 1953).

He died of a heart attack in 2001 in Bucharest at the age of 76.

External links

• Gabriel Partos, "Obituary: Ilie Verdet", The Independent, April 23, 2001
• Mirela Romanet, "Ilie Verdet - povestea unuia dintre cei mai inversunati comunisti", Ziarul de Bacău, August 25, 2006

Political offices
Preceded by Manea Mănescu	Prime Minister of Romania 1979–1982	Succeeded by Constantin Dăscălescu