Jón Sigurðsson (23 August 1946 – 10 September 2021) was an Icelandic politician. He was brought in as Minister of Industry and Commerce for the Progressive Party when

Halldór Ásgrímsson Halldór Ásgrímsson (pronounced ; 8 September 1947 – 18 May 2015) was an Icelandic politician, who served as prime minister of Iceland from 15 September 2004 to 15 June 2006 and was the leader of the Progressive Party from 1994 to 2006. Ed ...

abandoned politics. He was later elected party chairman from 2006 to 2007 but resigned after he failed to win a seat in the

Althing The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Parliament, national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ('Thing (assembly), thing ...

(Iceland's parliament). Prior to that, he had been governor of the

Central Bank of Iceland The Central Bank of Iceland (, ) is the central bank or reserve bank of Iceland. It is owned by the Icelandic government, and is administered by a governor and a seven-member supervisory board, elected by the country's parliament following ea ...

from 2003 to 2006.

Early life and career

Jón was born in

Kollafjörður The fjords of Iceland, listed in a clockwise direction round the island from the SW to the east. There are no important fjords along the south coast: most of the inlets there are lagoons. Western fjords * Faxaflói ** Stakksfjörður ** Hafnarfj ...

, Iceland, to Sigurður Ellert Ólason, a lawyer, and Unnur Kolbeinsdóttir, a teacher. Jón studied at

Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík (MR; official name in English: Reykjavik College) is collegein Iceland. It is located in Reykjavík. The school traces its origin to 1056, when a school was established in Skálholt, and it remains one of the oldest ...

, where he graduated in 1966. From there, he studied Icelandic and history at the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...

. He graduated with a BA degree in those subjects three years later. Jón took on the job of editor of

Tíminn ''Tíminn'' () was an Icelandic daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspape ...

in 1978 and served there until 1981. After that he became principal of Samvinnuskólinn at

Bifröst In Norse mythology, Bifröst (modern Icelandic: Bifröst ; from Old Norse: /ˈbiv.rɔst/), also called Bilröst and often anglicized as Bifrost, is a burning rainbow bridge that reaches between Midgard (Earth) and Asgard, the realm of the gods. ...

and later he became rector of the school until 1991.

Death

In 2017, Jón was diagnosed with advanced

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

. He died from the illness in September 2021.

References

External links

Official biography of Jón Sigurðsson on the parliament website
1946 births 2021 deaths Governors of the Central Bank of Iceland Jon Sigurdsson Jon Sigurdsson Jon Sigurdsson Columbia Pacific University alumni Deaths from prostate cancer in Iceland {{Iceland-politician-stub