Adrian Păunescu


Adrian Păunescu was a Romanian poet, journalist, and politician. Though criticised for praising communist leader Nicolae Ceauşescu, Păunescu was called "Romania's most famous poet" in an Associated Press story, quoted by The New York Times.

Life

Born in Copăceni, Bălți County, in what is now the Republic of Moldova, Păunescu spent his childhood in Bârca, Dolj County. He started his secondary studies at Frații Buzești National College in Craiova and then continued at Sf. Sava National College in Bucharest.
Păunescu studied philology at the University of Bucharest and became a writer and journalist. He was an influential public figure for Romanian youth throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. Though he was criticised for writing flattering poems about Nicolae Ceauşescu, Păunescu remained popular in Romania, where he appeared on television several times a week.
As posthumously summarized by newspaper România Liberă, Păunescu "is still viewed as a hero by the man in the street" although "intellectuals continue to question his integrity and the literary value of his work".

''Flacăra'' and ''Cenaclul Flacăra''

A member of the Union of Communist Youth between 1966 and 1968, and, between 1968 and 1989, of the Romanian Communist Party, Păunescu gained control over a major weekly publication, Flacăra and became the producer and host of the itinerant folk and pop show in the country, Cenaclul Flacăra, founded in 1973.

Political career

After 1989 Păunescu pursued a political career, aligning himself with socialism and then social-democratic political parties.
In 1996, he ran in the Romanian presidential election but received only 87,163 votes. He was a senator from 1992 to 2008, representing Dolj County and then Hunedoara County, first of the Socialist Labour Party, and later of the Social Democratic Party of Romania. He received the most votes in his district at the 2008 election, but failed to win a seat after the votes were redistributed pursuant to the MMP system used.

Death

At aged 67, Păunescu was hospitalized on 26 October 2010 in the intensive care unit of the Floreasca Emergency Hospital in Bucharest, with problems of more vital organs caused by pulmonary edema. Păunescu had subsequent renal, liver and heart failure. He was declared dead at 7:15 AM, on 5 November 2010. Survived by his wife and three children, Păunescu was posthumously thanked by Romania's president Traian Băsescu who in saluting him mentioned only his contributions to art.

Books

Presidential elections