- Vilmundur Gylfason
Vilmundur Gylfason (
7 August 1948 –19 June 1983 ) was anIceland ic politician, historian and poet. He was the son ofGylfi Þ. Gíslason andGuðrún Vilmundardóttir .Family
Vilmundur's father was
Gylfi Þ. Gíslason , 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 the philosopher, andÞorvaldur Gylfason , an economist.Vilmundur was married to Valgerður Bjarnadóttir, daughter of
Bjarni Benediktsson .Life and work
Vilmundur studied at
Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík , an Icelandic Junior College, from 1964 to 1968. He was editor of the student paper, served asinspector scholae 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 aBA Degree in literature and history at theUniversity of Manchester . In 1973 he finished anMA degree in the same subjects atUniversity of Exeter .When he returned to Iceland in 1973, he received a job as a teacher of history at
Menntaskólinn í Reykjavík 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 ofNýtt land . He also published two poetry books, "Myndir og ljóðbrot " (1970) and "Ljóð " (1980).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
Alþýðuflokkurinn (English: "People's Party") in theVestfirðir electorate. He was an active participant in the operations of the party and held a number of positions within it. He was the editor ofAlþýðublaðið , the party newspaper, for a year. In the 1978 elections, Vilmundur was a candidate inReykjavík and was voted into office. From October 1979 to February 1980 he served as minister of justice, religion and education in the minority government ofAlþýðuflokkurinn .In 1982, Vilmundur left the
Alþýðuflokkurinn and founded his own party in 1983,Bandalag jafnaðarmanna ("Egalitarian Alliance"). In the parliamentary elections of 1983 the party got four MP's inAlþingi .Sources
*
Morgunblaðið , 21. Júní 1983, bls. 46.
*Morgunblaðið , 28. Júní 1983, bls. 14, 15, 35, 36.
* [http://www.althingi.is/cv.php4?nfaerslunr=590 Biography on the Alþingi website]
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