Ilie Verdeț

Born in Comănești, 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, Verdeț helped Ceaușescu gain the post of Secretary General of the PCR.

Soon afterwards, Verdeț 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 Ceaușescu 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 Ceaușescu 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. Verdeț founded in 1990 a party named Socialist Party of Labour (Romanian: Partidul Socialist al Muncii), which narrowly entered Parliament in the 1992 elections, but in the 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.

He died of a heart attack in 2001 in Bucharest at the age of 75.

Verdeț and his wife Reghina married in 1947. They had two daughters: Doina (b. 1948) and Cezarina (b. 1953).

• Gabriel Partos, "Obituary: Ilie Verdet", The Independent, April 23, 2001