Davíð Oddsson, former Prime Minister of Iceland, Mayor of Reykjavík, Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland, and Editor-in-Chief of Iceland’s daily newspaper Morgunblaðið since 2009, passed away yesterday, Sunday, March 1, according to Morgunblaðið. He was 78.
Davíð Oddsson was born on January 17, 1948. He graduated from Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík (MR) and later earned a law degree from the University of Iceland. He was first elected to the Reykjavík City Council in 1974 as a member of the Independence Party and served as Mayor of Reykjavík from 1982 to 1991. In 1991, he became chairman of the Independence Party and subsequently served as Prime Minister of Iceland from 1991 to 2004. He was appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Iceland in 2005 and remained in that position until 2009. Since 2009, he had served as Editor-in-Chief of what is now Iceland’s only daily newspaper.
Davíð Oddsson was a towering figure in Icelandic politics and is widely regarded as one of the most influential — and controversial — politicians in the country’s modern history. He played a key role in deepening Iceland’s international engagement, including facilitating its entry into the European Economic Area in 1994. He also oversaw the privatization of several sectors of the Icelandic economy, most notably the banking sector, which later collapsed in 2008 while he was serving as Central Bank Governor. In 2003, he aligned Iceland with the U.S.-led “Coalition of the Willing” in the invasion of Iraq, and he ran for President of Iceland in 2016.
Beyond politics, Davíð Oddsson was also known as an author, actor, and comedian. He published plays, short story collections, screenplays, and song lyrics.