- Gunnar Thoroddsen
Infobox_Prime Minister | name= Gunnar Thoroddsen
nationality=Iceland
order=Prime Minister of Iceland
term_start=February 8 ,1980
term_end=May 26 ,1983
president =Kristján Eldjárn
birth_date = birth date|1910|12|29|mf=y
death_date = death date and age|1983|9|25|1910|12|29|mf=y
predecessor=Benedikt Sigurðsson Gröndal
successor=Steingrímur Hermannsson
party=Independence PartyGunnar Thoroddsen (IPA2|ˈkʏnar ˈtʰouːrɔtˌsɛn) (
December 29 1910 –September 27 1983 ) was Prime Minister ofIceland from8 February 1980 to26 May 1983 . Gunnar is the youngest man ever elected on Iceland's Parliament. He was 23 years old when he was elected as MP in 1934. He served as anAmbassador of Iceland inDenmark from 1965 to 1969 when he ran for presidency of Iceland in 1968. He wished to succeed his father in law,Ásgeir Ásgeirsson , who served as president from 1952 to 1968. Gunnar had been mayor ofReykjavík from 1947 to 1959 and minister of finance from 1959 to 1965. He was minister of industry and a social welfare minister in the cabinet ofGeir Hallgrimsson August 28, 1974 to June 27, 1978.Gunnar and Geir were not in agreement and the disagreement led to Gunnar breaking away from the will of the Independence Party with a few members of parliament and forming a cabinet with the Progressive Party and the People's Alliance, that replaced a minority government of
Benedikt Sigurðsson Gröndal . By forming his government Gunnar became the oldest Prime Minister in Iceland's history at the age of 69. Gunnar did not run in the 1983 elections for parliament, due to his illness, and ended his interference in politics when his cabinet was succeeded bySteingrímur Hermannsson 's cabinet.Gunnar died in September 1983.
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