Milan Bandic was a Croatian politician who served six terms as mayor of Zagreb, from 2000 to 2002 and from 2005 until his death.
He was born on 22 November 1955 in Grude, PR Bosnia and Herzegovina, FPR Yugoslavia.
The controversial long-serving mayor of Croatia’s capital of Zagreb has died from a heart attack, his office says.
Age
He was 65 years old.
Milan Bandic Died
Bandic, the controversial long-serving mayor of Croatia’s capital of Zagreb, has died from a heart attack, his office said Sunday. He was 65.
Bandic felt unwell around midnight Saturday and was swiftly taken to a hospital but nothing could be done, the state HRT television reported.
Mourning his death, some citizens lit candles Sunday outside Bandic’s Zagreb home.
Bandic “lived for his city and its citizens, who always came first, and for his job, which he did with energy and love, and to which he gave the whole of himself,” Bandic’s office said.
Bandic has had previous health problems.
Funeral arrangements are yet to be announced. Bandic left behind a wife and a daughter.
Education
As a child, Bandić was an altar servant in the local church. He attended Antun Branko Šimić High School in Grude and he was an excellent student.
In 1974, he moved to Zagreb to study at the Department of Political Science at the University of Zagreb, a program of National defense and social self-protection. To pay off his student loans he unloaded sugar and coal and he was also a mason.
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After graduation, Bandić was conscripted to the Yugoslav People’s Army, and after that, he was employed in Ledo, producer of ice creams.
Career
He was both a prominent force within and one of the most popular members of the Social Democratic Party of Croatia (SDP), who gained further notoriety for a number of statements he made as mayor.
In 2007 he unsuccessfully ran for the party president. However, he remained one of the main rivals of the former party president Zoran Milanović. In 2009 he was expelled from the SDP party due to his violation of the party’s bylaws. He then ran on a populist platform to become Croatian president in the 2010 election in which he lost to the SDP candidate Ivo Josipović.
Bandić is viewed as having been a hands-on mayor because of his ambition and the number of projects related to Zagreb that he undertook.
During his term as mayor, he worked on the Arena Zagreb and Homeland Bridge which opened during his third term, and the Ljubljanska Avenue was renovated.
Bandić was arrested in the evening hours of 19 October 2014, along with 18 other officials, under the suspicion of malfeasance related to Zagreb Holding.
In his absence, his deputy Sandra Švaljek took the duties of mayor from 19 October 2014 until 26 March 2015.
Bandić canceled the authorization that he granted to her because of some disagreements between them.
Consequently, Švaljek resigned all of her duties in the city. Bandić’s second deputy Vesna Kusin took the duties of the mayor on 26 March 2015.
On 10 April 2015, the Zagreb County Court ruled that Bandić had to be released from prison while his trial was pending trial. Consequently, he returned to the position of mayor.
