Vilmundur Gylfason (7 August 1948 – 19 June 1983) was an

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic politician, historian and poet. He was the son of

Gylfi Þorsteinsson Gíslason Gylfi Þorsteinsson Gíslason (7 February 1917 – 18 August 2004) was an Icelandic politician. Gylfi was a member of the Social Democratic Party. He served as Minister of Education 1956–1971, as Minister of Industry 1956–1958 and as Minist ...

and Guðrún Vilmundardóttir.

Family

Vilmundur's father was

, a member of parliament, government minister and professor. His mother, Guðrún Vilmundardóttir, was a housewife and worked as a journalist for some time. Vilmundur had two brothers,

Þorsteinn Gylfason Þorsteinn Gylfason (12 August 1942 – 16 August 2005) was an Icelandic philosopher, translator, musician and poet. Þorsteinn distinguished himself in Icelandic public life with his writings in newspapers, journals and publications. His li ...

the philosopher, and

Þorvaldur Gylfason Thorvaldur Gylfason (Icelandic orthography Þorvaldur Gylfason; born 18 July 1951) is an Icelandic economist who has been active in Icelandic public life. On 27 November 2010, he was elected to be a delegate at the Icelandic Constitutional Asse ...

, an economist. Vilmundur was married to Valgerður Bjarnadóttir, daughter of Bjarni Benediktsson.

Life and work

Vilmundur studied at

Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík (MR; official name in English: Reykjavik Junior College) is a junior college in Iceland. It is located in Reykjavík. The school traces its origin to 1056, when a school was established in Skálholt, and it remains o ...

, an Icelandic Junior College, from 1964 to 1968. He was editor of the student paper, served as

inspector scholae Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia In Australian police forces, the rank of inspector is generally the ne ...

for a year and was an active participant in student life. He graduated with an emphasis on languages. Upon graduation, he studied in England and in 1971 he finished a

BA Degree Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in literature and history at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

. In 1973 he finished an

MA degree A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in the same subjects at

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

. When he returned to Iceland in 1973, he received a job as a teacher of history at

and wrote articles in the Icelandic newspapers. He taught at MR until his death. He was a friend of Jón Ormur Halldórsson, a political scientist and politician. Vilmundur was active in setting up radio programs on arts and culture, was a major participant in starting the Helgarpósturinn newspaper, and founded and served as editor of Nýtt land. He also published two poetry books, ''Myndir og ljóðbrot'' (1970) and ''Ljóð'' (1980). Vilmundur and his wife lost their son in a fire at a government summer house at

Þingvellir Þingvellir (, anglicised as ThingvellirThe spelling ''Pingvellir'' is sometimes seen, although the letter "p" is unrelated to the letter "þ" (thorn), which is pronounced as "th".) was the site of the Alþing, the annual parliament of Iceland f ...

on 10 July 1970, where he had been residing with his grandparents

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Bjarni Benediktsson and wife who also perished in the blaze. Vilmundur committed suicide on 19 June 1983.

Politics

Vilmundur's political opinions were very much shaped by his stay in England, and were decidedly left-wing. In the Icelandic parliament elections of 1971, Vilmundur stood as candidate for

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

in the

Westfjords The Westfjords or West Fjords ( is, Vestfirðir , ISO 3166-2:IS: IS-4) is a large peninsula in northwestern Iceland and an administrative district, the least populous administrative district. It lies on the Denmark Strait, facing the east coast ...

constituency. He was an active participant in the operations of the party and held a number of positions within it. He was the editor of Alþýðublaðið, the party newspaper, for a year. In the 1978 elections Vilmundur was a candidate in

Reykjavík Reykjavík ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland, on the southern shore of Faxaflói bay. Its latitude is 64°08' N, making it the world's northernmost capital of a sovereign state. With a po ...

and was voted into office. From October 1979 to February 1980 he served as Minister of Justice, Religion and Education in the minority Social Democratic government. In 1982, Vilmundur left the Social Democrats and founded the

Alliance of Social Democrats The Alliance of Social Democrats ( is, Bandalag jafnaðarmanna) was a political party in Iceland. History The party was established in 1983 by Vilmundur Gylfason, as a breakaway from the Social Democratic Party.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (20 ...

in 1983. The party won four seats in the elections that year.

Sources

Morgunblaðið ''Morgunblaðið'' (, ''The Morning Paper'') is an Icelandic newspaper. ''Morgunblaðið''s website, mbl.is, is the most popular website in Iceland. History ''Morgunblaðið'' was founded by Vilhjálmur Finsen and Ólafur Björnsson, brother of ...

, 21. Júní 1983, bls. 46. *

, 28. Júní 1983, bls. 14, 15, 35, 36.
Biography on the Alþingi website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gylfason, Vilmundur 1948 births 1983 suicides Alumni of the University of Manchester Alumni of the University of Exeter

Vilmundur Gylfason Vilmundur Gylfason (7 August 1948 – 19 June 1983) was an Icelandic politician, historian and poet. He was the son of Gylfi Þorsteinsson Gíslason and Guðrún Vilmundardóttir. Family Vilmundur's father was Gylfi Þorsteinsson Gíslaso ...

Politicians who committed suicide

20th-century male writers