José Vida Soria (19 September 1937 – 3 January 2019) was a Spanish jurist and politician.

Early life

Vida was born in

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

on 19 September 1937. He taught law at the

University of Granada The University of Granada (, UGR) is a public university located in the city of Granada, Spain, and founded in 1531 by Emperor Charles V. With more than 60,000 students, it is the fourth largest university in Spain. Apart from the city of Granad ...

prior to his political career. Vida joined the

Spanish Socialist Workers' Party The Spanish Socialist Workers' Party ( , PSOE ) is a Social democracy, social democratic Updated as required.The PSOE is described as a social-democratic party by numerous sources: * * * * List of political parties in Spain, political party ...

in 1974 and represented the party in Granada during the constituent and first

Congress of Deputies The Congress of Deputies () is the lower house of the , Spain's legislative branch, the upper house being the Senate of Spain, Senate. The Congress meets in the Palacio de las Cortes, Madrid, Palace of the Parliament () in Madrid. Congress has ...

between 1977 and 1982. He was outside Madrid when he learned of the

1981 Spanish coup d'état attempt A coup d'état was attempted in Spain in February 1981 by elements of the Civil Guard and the Spanish military. The failure of the coup marked the last serious attempt to revert Spain to a Francoist government and served to consolidate Spain ...

, and he decided to enter the congressional chambers while it was taken by the Civil Guards, knowing the risk of dying, as one of the guards told him. Vida subsequently returned to the University of Granada, serving as rector from 1984 to 1989. He was awarded the

Order of Constitutional Merit The Order of Constitutional Merit is a civil order of merit established by royal decree on 18 November 1988. The order is granted those who have carried out activities in service of the Spanish Constitution and its values and established principl ...

and the Order of St. Raymond of Peñafort. Vida was being treated for pneumonia at the , when he was diagnosed with cancer. He died on 3 January 2019, aged 81. Vida was buried at the San Jose municipal cemetery the next day.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vida Soria, Jose 1937 births 2019 deaths Academic staff of the University of Granada Members of the constituent Congress of Deputies (Spain) Members of the 1st Congress of Deputies (Spain) 20th-century Spanish lawyers Spanish legal scholars Spanish Socialist Workers' Party politicians Deaths from cancer in Spain Spanish academic administrators