Jolanta Kwaśniewska (Polish: ,

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Konty, ; born 3 June 1956)''Wprost'' magazine, Ludzie, "Jolanta Kwasniewska"
/ref> is a Polish lawyer and charity activist who was

First Lady of Poland First Lady of the Republic of Poland is an informal designation customarily applied to the wife of the President of Poland, president of the Republic of Poland (as so far all Polish president in Third Republic had wives). The First Lady does not ho ...

between 1995 and 2005, as the wife of the then President

Aleksander Kwaśniewski Aleksander Kwaśniewski (; born 15 November 1954) is a Polish politician and journalist. He served the maximum two terms as the president of Poland from 1995 to 2005. His tenure as President was marked by modernization of Poland, rapid economi ...

Biography

She was a graduate of the 9th High School in

Gdańsk Gdańsk is a city on the Baltic Sea, Baltic coast of northern Poland, and the capital of the Pomeranian Voivodeship. With a population of 486,492, Data for territorial unit 2261000. it is Poland's sixth-largest city and principal seaport. Gdań ...

. In 1979, she graduated from the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Gdańsk, then tried to pass the judge's apprenticeship exam. During her studies, she was the head of the faculty council of the Socialist Union of Polish Students. In November 1979, she married Aleksander Kwasniewski. On February 16, 1981, she gave birth to a daughter, Aleksandra. In 1984, she started her professional career in the Swedish-Polish Polish diaspora PAAT, producing, among others, imitation jewellery for the Soviet Union market. In this company, she was, among others Chief Commercial Officer. In 1991 she started her own business - a real estate agency called Royal Wilanów, which she founded with the wife of Ireneusz Nawrocki, later president of

Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń Powszechny Zakład Ubezpieczeń Spółka Akcyjna, also known as PZU SA (Polish pronunciation: ) () is a publicly traded insurance company, a component of the WIG30 stock market index and Poland's biggest and oldest insurance company. PZU is headq ...

(PZU) Życie. She managed this agency until her husband took the office of

President of Poland The president of Poland ( ), officially the president of the Republic of Poland (), is the head of state of Poland. His or her prerogatives and duties are determined in the Constitution of Poland. The president jointly exercises the executive ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

. During her husband's office, the company was handed over to trusteeship. After the end of the second presidential term of her husband in 2005, she returned to the management of this agency.

Personal life

She met the future president while she was a law student at the University of Gdańsk, and they married in 1979. During her studies, she was the president of the executive committee of the Socialist Union of Polish Students, in which her husband was also active. She has been widely involved in charity work, and in 1997 founded the charity foundation ("Understanding Without Barriers"), whose aims include providing help and support to sick and disabled children. She is also the host of the television show ''Lekcja stylu'' ("Lessons in Style") on TVN Style.

Honours

* : Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold (1999) * : 1st class of the

Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana The Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana (, also the Order of the Cross of St. Mary's Land) was instituted by the President of Estonia, Lennart Meri, on 16 May 1995 to honour the independence of the Estonian state. (The Latin name ''Terra Mariana'' ...

* : Commander Grand Cross of the

Order of the Three Stars Order of the Three Stars () is the highest civilian order awarded for meritorious service to Latvia. It was established in 1924 in remembrance of the founding of Latvia. Its motto is ''Per aspera ad astra'', meaning "Through hardships towards the ...

References

1956 births Living people Jurists from Gdańsk First ladies of Poland Polish Roman Catholics University of Gdańsk alumni Recipients of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, 1st Class Recipients of the National Order of Merit (Malta) Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany {{Poland-bio-stub