Jorge Sampaio, former President of Portugal, dies at 81

Lisbon, Sep 10 (Prensa Latina) Former two-term President of Portugal Jorge Sampaio -one of the most prominent political figures of his generation- has died on Friday at the age of 81 as a result of respiratory arrest.

September 10, 2021
09:38

Lawyer by trade, Mr. Sampaio led the Portuguese Socialist Party in the early 1990s and also served as President of Portugal from 1996 to 2006.

Sampaio also ran successfully for mayor of Lisbon. UN Secretary-General (UNSG) Kofi Annan appointed Sampaio as his special envoy on tuberculosis in 2006. The following year, Annan’s successor Ban Ki-moon made him the U.N. High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations.

Currently, Sampaio presided over the Global Platform for Syrian Students, dedicated to providing educational resources to war-affected children and young people.

The current Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa offered Sampaio´s family his sincere condolences; while former Portuguese Prime Minister José Manuel Durao Barroso tweeted that Sampaio is a personality ‘committed to the causes of democracy and social development.’

pgh/pll/mem / ehl