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S.A. designates a particular type of corporation in various countries, mostly those employing civil law. Depending on language, the abbreviation stands for various phrases meaning anonymous society, anonymous company, anonymous partnership, or share company. The concept is roughly equivalent to that of the public limited company in the UK and some other countries. It can be differentiated from partnerships and private limited companies.

S.A. can be an abbreviation of:

• Sociedad Anónima or Sociedad por Acciones in Spanish; variations include "S.A. de C.V.", Sociedad Anónima de Capital Variable and "S.A.B. de C.V.", Sociedad Anónima Bursátil de Capital Variable for publicly traded companies in Mexico
• Societat Anònima in Catalan
• Sociedade Anónima in Galician and Portuguese (used in Portugal, Angola, Timor Leste, Macao, Mozambique and various other Portuguese-speaking countries)
• Sociedade Anônima in Brazilian Portuguese (used in Brazil)
• Sociedá Anónima in Asturian and Leonese
• Società Anonima in Italian (since 1942 Società per Azioni abbreviated "S.p.A.")
• Société Anonyme in French (as commonly used in French-speaking countries, such as France, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and Monaco; and in partially Francophone countries like Belgium, Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania, and various other African countries)
• Spółka Akcyjna in Polish
• Societate pe Acţiuni in Romanian

It is equivalent in both literal meaning and practical function to:

• Anonim Şirket (A.Ş.) in Turkish
• Ανώνυμη/Ανώνυμος Εταιρεία (A.E., Anonymi/Anonymos Eteria) in Greek
• Naamloze Vennootschap (N.V.) in Dutch
• Perseroan Terbatas Terbuka (P.T. Tbk.) in Indonesia
• Sendirian Berhad (Sdn. Bhd.) in Malaysia

It is equivalent in practical function to:

• Aktiengesellschaft (AG) in German
• Osakeyhtiö (Oy) in Finnish
• Aktiebolag (AB) in Swedish
• Akcinė Bendrovė (AB) in Lithuanian
• Aktieselskab (A/S) in Danish
• Aksjeselskap (AS) in Norwegian
• Akciová spoločnosť (a.s.) in Slovak
• Akciová Společnost (a.s.) in Czech
• Акционерско друштво (АД, Aktsionersko drushtvo) in Macedonian
• Акционерное общество (АО, Aktsionernoye obshchestvo) in Russian
• Акціонерне товариство (АТ, Aktsionerne tovarystvo) in Ukrainian
• Акционерно дружество (АД, Aktsionerno druzhestvo) in Bulgarian
• Shoqëri Aksionare (Sh.a.) in Albanian
• Delniška družba (d.d.) in Slovene
• Dioničko društvo (d.d.) in Croatian

References[link]

Vlade Divac

Divac during a trip to Niagara Falls, Ontario in 2008
No. 12, 21
Center
Personal information
Born	(1968-02-03) February 3, 1968 (age 44) Prijepolje, SR Serbia, SFR Yugoslavia
Nationality	Serbian
Listed height	7 ft 1 in (2.16 m)
Listed weight	243 lb (110 kg)
Career information
NBA Draft	1989 / Round: 1 / Pick: 26th overall
Selected by the Los Angeles Lakers
Pro career	1983–2005
Career history
1983–1986	KK Sloga (Yugoslavia)
1986–1989	KK Partizan (Yugoslavia)
1989–1996	Los Angeles Lakers
1996–1998	Charlotte Hornets
1999	Red Star Belgrade (Yugoslavia)
1999–2004	Sacramento Kings
2004–2005	Los Angeles Lakers
Career highlights and awards
NBA All-Star (2001) NBA All-Rookie First Team (1990) European Player of the Year (1989) J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award (2000) FIBA's 50 Greatest Players (1991) 50 Greatest Euroleague Contributors #21 Retired by the Sacramento Kings FIBA Hall of Fame induction
Career NBA statistics
Points	13,398 (11.8 ppg)
Rebounds	9,326 (8.2 rpg)
Blocks	1,631 (1.4 bpg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
FIBA Hall of Fame as player
Medals Men's Basketball Competitor for  SFR Yugoslavia Summer Olympics Silver 1988 Seoul SFR Yugoslavia FIBA World Championship Bronze 1986 Spain SFR Yugoslavia Gold 1990 Argentina SFR Yugoslavia Eurobasket Bronze 1987 Greece SFR Yugoslavia Gold 1989 Yugoslavia SFR Yugoslavia Gold 1991 Italy SFR Yugoslavia Competitor for  FR Yugoslavia Summer Olympics Silver 1996 Atlanta FR Yugoslavia FIBA World Championship Gold 2002 USA FR Yugoslavia Eurobasket Gold 1995 Greece FR Yugoslavia Bronze 1999 France FR Yugoslavia

Vlade Divac (Serbian: Владе Дивац, pronounced [ʋlǎːde dǐːʋats]) (born February 3, 1968 in Prijepolje, Serbia, Yugoslavia) is a retired Yugoslav and Serbian professional basketball player who spent most of his career in the NBA. At 7 ft 1 in, he played center and was known for his passing skills. Divac was among the first group of European basketball players to transfer to the NBA in the late 1980s and was named as one of the 50 Greatest Euroleague Contributors.^[1] Divac is one of six players in NBA history to record 13,000 points, 9,000 rebounds, 3,000 assists and 1,500 blocked shots, along with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, Kevin Garnett and Hakeem Olajuwon.^[2] (The NBA hasn't always kept track of blocked shots, so some other players, such as Bill Russell, probably also had similar career achievements.) Divac is also the only NBA player born and trained outside of the United States to play in over 1,000 games in the NBA. On August 20, 2010, Divac was inducted into the FIBA Hall of Fame in recognition of his play in international competition.^[3]

Aside from being noticed for his basketball abilities, Divac is also known as a humanitarian, helping children in his native country of Serbia, as well as in Africa.^[4] On October 16, 2008, Divac was appointed as a government adviser in Serbia for humanitarian issues.^[5] On February 24, 2009, he was elected as the President of the Serbian Olympic Committee for a 4-year term.^[6] Divac received a prestigious honor from the World Sports Humanitarian Hall of Fame.^[7]

Basketball career[link]

He began playing basketball in his home town Prijepolje for the team KK Elan. He began his professional career in Yugoslavia playing for KK Sloga from Kraljevo, and was immediately noted for scoring 27 points against KK Crvena zvezda.^[8] In summer 1986, he was the top star of the transfer season, signing for KK Partizan for DM14,000.^[8]

In the same year, at the age of 18, he made his debut for the senior Yugoslavia national basketball team in the 1986 FIBA World Championship in Madrid, on invitation by the selector Krešimir Ćosić. However, the excellent rookie's performance was spoiled by the event in the semi-finals against Soviet Union. 45 seconds before the end, Yugoslavia had a comfortable lead of 9 points, but Soviets scored two three-pointers within a few seconds and cut the difference to 3 points. Yugoslavia tried to hold the ball for the remaining time, opting to continue the play with throw-ins instead of free throws following fouls, but with only 14 seconds left, Divac committed a double dribble, the Soviets were awarded the ball, and tied the score with another three-pointer. In the overtime, the Soviets easily prevailed against the shocked Yugoslavs, who had to be content with the bronze.^[8]

The next year, Divac participated in the team that took the gold at the FIBA Junior World Championship (since split into separate under-19 and under-21 events) in Bormio, Italy. That event launched the young generation of Yugoslavian basketballers, also featuring stars like Dino Rađa and Toni Kukoč, regarded as likely the best in history. Before the breakup of Yugoslavia, they would also take the titles at EuroBasket 1989 and the 1990 FIBA World Championship in Argentina,^[8] where they were led by Dražen Petrović,^[9] as well as the EuroBasket 1991 title, with Aleksandar Đorđević at point guard.^[10]

In 1987, with Divac, Đorđević, Paspalj, Obradović, and Dušan Vujošević at the helm, Partizan had a "dream team", which took the Yugoslavian league title, but failed to reach the Euroleague top the next season, having lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv from Israel in the semi-finals in Belgian Ghent.^[11] Jugoplastika with Rađa and Kukoč was a stronger team in the subsequent 3 years, reigning both in Yugoslavia and in Europe.

Divac had an unusual style for centers of the time: despite the height, he possessed good mobility, had good control of the ball and was a good shooter from distance. On occasion, he would also act as a playmaker. His trademark moves included a midrange shot at the top of the key and flip shots around the rim while facing the complete opposite direction. His quirky moves complemented how he liked playing gags on the field: in the 1989 Eurobasket, he lifted teammate Zoran Radović for a slam dunk. In just 4 professional seasons in Europe, he became the most sought-after tall player in the continent after Arvydas Sabonis.^[8]

When Yugoslavia won the gold in the 1990 FIBA World Championship, fans rushed the court. One of them was holding a Croatian flag, one of the six republics that made up Yugoslavia. Divac claims that he told the man that he should not be waving that flag, since this was a win for Yugoslavia. Divac claims the man made a derogatory remark about the Yugoslav flag, at which point Divac took his flag from him. This happened during a very tense time where nationalistic pride was threatening to tear Yugoslavia apart and ignite a war. The taking of the flag made Divac a hero to Serbs, and a villain to Croatians. Divac has stated that he did not mean it as an act against Croatia and he would have taken away a Serbian flag if a Serb fan had done the same.^[12][13]

This action, along with the Yugoslav Wars, alienated Divac from many of his former Croatian friends, particularly Dražen Petrović, whom he considered his best friend.^[12] When Yugoslavia won EuroBasket 1995, and Croatia won bronze, Croatia, still at war with Serbs from Croatia (sponsored by Yugoslavia), walked off the podium during the medal ceremony. The teams never faced each other in the tournament.

NBA[link]

Drafted into the NBA in 1989 by the Los Angeles Lakers, Divac became the Lakers' first-ever Serbian draft pick; Croatian Kresimir Cosic had been previously selected by the Lakers in 1973. He was also one of the first European players to have an impact in the league. Under the mentorship of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson, he improved his play and adapted to the American style of the game. Despite the fact that he didn't speak any English, he quickly became popular among the teammates and the public for his charm and joviality. In the 1989/90 season, he was selected into the NBA All-Rookie Team.^[8] During his time with the Lakers, Divac's popularity and marketing potential, in addition to his entertaining and good-natured personality, were picked up on by the American TV industry. As a result he appeared quite a few times on Los Angeles-based late night programmes such as The Arsenio Hall Show and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. In 1990, he was featured in a commercial with Laker teammates A. C. Green and Mychal Thompson for the Schick brand razors company.^[14] He also appeared in American sitcoms Married... with Children and Coach, as well as in the short lived Good Sports sitcom starring Farrah Fawcett. On the big screen Divac took part in basketball based movies Eddie, Space Jam and Juwanna Mann. Later in his career, he appeared on Larry King Live in 1999 and The Late Late Show in 2002.

Divac earned a reputation for flopping, or deceiving the officials into calling a foul on the other team by purposely falling to the floor upon contact with an opposing player.^[15] Veteran NBA forward P.J. Brown claimed that Divac might have been the best of all time at flopping.^[16] Divac freely admitted doing so, adding that he usually did it when he felt like the officials had missed some calls and owed him.^[17]

He was traded to the Charlotte Hornets for the draft rights to Kobe Bryant in 1996 and spent two seasons playing there. During the lockout period, in January 1999, he played 2 games for Partizan's "eternal rival" KK Crvena zvezda in the 1998–99 Euroleague season.^[18] He then signed as a free agent with the Sacramento Kings where he would play for six seasons alongside fellow countryman Predrag Stojaković. Along with Stojaković, Chris Webber and Mike Bibby, Divac revitalized the Sacramento Kings franchise. The Kings rose in the NBA ranks, becoming a perennial playoff contender and later on a championship contender and was at one point the best team in the NBA, leading the league in number of wins in 2001–02.^[19] The Kings however, could not get past the Los Angeles Lakers, who beat them in a 7-game series in 2002.

After the 2003–04 NBA season, he became a free agent. He signed a deal to return to the Lakers and was part of a grand plan to overhaul Laker basketball. The Lakers, following a defeat in the NBA Finals, had traded away or released most of their players, including Shaquille O'Neal, Gary Payton, Karl Malone, Derek Fisher and more; Divac was supposed to fill that void. However, Divac suffered back problems and was unable to play for most of the season, and even when he returned, was only able to play about nine minutes per game, averaging 2.3 points per game and 2.1 rebounds per game in 15 games, he played 8 games early in the season and 7 more in the final month of the season. On 14 July 2005, Divac announced his retirement, ending his sixteen-year NBA basketball career.

The Kings retired his No. 21 jersey in a ceremony on March 31, 2009.^[20]

Over his 16 years in the NBA, Divac made over $93,000,000 in salary.^[21]

Post-basketball career[link]

Through the twilight of his playing career and afterwards, Divac focused on three fields: humanitarian work, sport management, and investment.

Sport management[link]

KK Partizan[link]

In late 2000, following the overthrow of Slobodan Milošević, Divac and former teammate Predrag Danilović took over their former club KK Partizan. They did so on initiative by Ivica Dačić, the club's outgoing president and, more importantly, a suddenly marginalized politician who, due to his association with Milošević, was forced to leave his post at the club. Seeing that various state-owned companies and community property were being taken over in a dubious manner during the power vacuum that resulted from régime change, Dačić saw it prudent to bring the club's two former greats as a safeguard against the same happening to KK Partizan. Divac became the club's president while Danilović took the vice-president role.^[22] Freshly retired from playing, Danilović was actually running the club's day-to-day operations since Divac was still very actively involved with the Sacramento Kings at the time. The head coach they inherited, Darko Russo, finished out the 2000-01 season before they decided in Summer 2001 to bring back their mentor Duško Vujošević to be the new head coach.

Though the duo never stated so outright, their additional motivation in getting involved with KK Partizan again was perceived to be gaining the upper hand on the club's eventual privatisation process once the new Law on Sports gets passed in the Serbian parliament. Since the exact ownership structure of a publicly owned KK Partizan wasn't and still isn't really clear, potential investors decided to stay away, at least until the law appears. Divac and Danilović appeared pretty much out of nowhere in this regard but enjoyed plenty of fan and public support because most preferred to see their beloved club owned and operated by its former stars rather than a faceless corporation or a group of politicians, managers or businessmen close to the ruling coalition. However, after a few years the duo ran out of patience and pulled out of the venture in late 2004 because it became too much of a financial burden with no end-goal in sight. While he stopped performing any official functions at the club, Divac continues to be involved with it in a lesser capacity.

LA Lakers[link]

From 2005 to 2006, Divac was employed as European scout for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Real Madrid[link]

In June 2006, through his friendship with Predrag Mijatović, Divac linked up with Ramón Calderón as part of the lawyer's candidate bid for the presidency of Real Madrid polideportivo. When Calderón closely won the club elections on July 2, 2006, Divac was introduced as the head of operations at Real Madrid basketball club.

However, Divac's role in the club's day to day operations was largely symbolic, and even he himself admitted as much in a March 2007 interview for Croatian weekly Globus: "I literally do nothing and I only serve as part of the royal club's image. I only accepted the job because of Mijatović, who is currently the football director at Real".^[23]

Serbian Olympic Committee[link]

In February 2009 Divac ran for presidency of the Olympic Committee of Serbia against incumbent president Ivan Ćurković.^[24] He won the race after Ćurković withdrew just before the scheduled voting.^[6]

Investments[link]

Divac has been involved in many non-basketball endeavors while still actively playing in the NBA, and more so after he retired. He is an active restaurant investor in the Sacramento, California area. However, his attempts to make major investments in Serbia failed, for a variety of reasons.

The most notable affair was a highly publicized business venture—takeover bid of profitable beverage producer Knjaz Miloš. Divac's company "Apurna", in a joint venture with French dairy giant Danone, ostensibly proposed the best bid, but the takeover was aborted by the Serbia's Securities Commission, because Danone/Apurna allegedly offered extra money to small shareholders.^[25] In the repeated bid, Divac and Danone eventually withdrew and the sale went to FPP Balkan Ltd., a privatization fund from the Cayman Islands. The entire messy affair caused great friction within the Serbian government, wide speculation about corruption, resignation of the Securities Commission chief, and even a police investigation.^[26]

Another similar, though less spectacular, episode happened with 2005 Divac's attempt to take over the Večernje novosti, a Serbian high-circulation daily.^[27] He made an agreement with small shareholders to take over the company by means of registering a new company with joint capital, which would increase the share capital. However, the Serbian Government intervened and halted what should have been a mere technical move. While the attempted takeover was a "backdoor" one indeed, it was legal and similar cases had already happened. The government ostensibly feared lack of control over the influential daily. Even through the Supreme Court of Serbia eventually ruled in Divac's favor, he withdrew from the contest, citing "friendly advice" by unnamed persons.^[28] Embittered, he decided to stop his attempts to invest in Serbia: "All of this is ugly and I'm very upset... I realized that there's no place for me in Serbia and my friends can meet me in Madrid from now on... In Serbia, some different rules are in effect, and I can't conceive them".^[29]

However, that turned out not to be true, as in October 2007 Divac got legally registered as 100% owner of Voda Voda, a bottled water brand previously owned by businessman Vojin Đorđević. That transaction was also followed by a stir of controversy, as Đorđević publicly accused Divac of deceit, asserting that he broke a gentlemen's agreement they had, and questioning the validity of the contract that Divac presented to the Serbian Business Registers Agency. The circumstances surrounding the deal (as of November 2007) are still unclear: Divac claims that he indeed loaned some money to the Đorđević's Si&Si company, which was in financial troubles, and after Đorđević failed to fulfill his part of the deal, just used the contract, already properly signed by Đorđević, to claim ownership of the company.^[30][31]

Humanitarian work[link]

Vlade Divac (rear, center) alongside Alekxander II's family in 2005, at an event for World Heart Day

Divac is a proactive humanitarian worker, focusing on aid to children worldwide and refugees in his home country. Along with six Serbian basketball teammates, Divac established the charity called Group Seven, later renamed to "Divac's Children Foundation", and works closely with International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC), helping them to raise around US$500,000 for humanitarian assistance in Serbia since 1997.^[32] Divac's own foundation, presided by his wife Snežana, provided over $2,500,000 in humanitarian assistance through 1998–2007.^[33]

In late 2007 Divac founded a humanitarian organization, "You Can Too" (Serbian: Можеш и ти/Možeš i ti), bent on assisting the refugees in Serbia. Serbia has around 500,000 refugees from the 1990s Yugoslav wars, making it the country with the largest refugee problem in Europe.^[33] Around 7,800 of those people still live in collective centers under poor conditions, so the organization has vouched itself to buy abandoned countryside houses, in an attempt to finally solve their accommodation problem.^[34]

On 21–23 September 2007, Divac organized an official farewell from active basketball career in his hometown Prijepolje and Belgrade, simultaneously promoting the "You Can Too" campaign. The spectacle culminated in gathering of Divac and his worldwide friends in front of 10,000 people outside the National Assembly building.^[35]

Domestic fame[link]

In the early 1990s, the song "Vlade Divac" by Belgrade band Deca Loših Muzičara, devoted to his transfer to Lakers, was a big hit; the band finally got to personally meet Divac and perform the song with him on his farewell party in 2007.^[36]

Divac regularly appears in commercials pitching products ranging from Atlas Beer to Societe Generale Bank mortgage credit plans. He appeared in a national TV commercial in the United States alongside former NBA star Darryl Dawkins for Taco Bell.

Divac appeared as a special guest on Eurovision 2008. He threw a ball into the audience, which served as the sign for televoting to begin.

Divac features in the ESPN 30 for 30 documentary Once Brothers, where he discusses the exploits of the Yugoslavia national basketball team in the late 1980s and early 1990s and how the Yugoslav Wars tore them apart, especially in context of his broken friendship with Croatian player Dražen Petrović.^[12]

Divac appears in Boris Malagurski's documentary film The Weight of Chains, in which he talks about the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

Personal life[link]

Divac and his wife, Snežana, have two sons, Luka and Matija, and an adopted daughter Petra, whose biological parents were killed by the Kosovo Liberation Army.^[37]

Major career achievements[link]

KK Partizan[link]

• Yugoslav Championship in 1987
• Final-four of Euroleague 1988
• National Cup Winner 1989
• Korać Cup Winner 1989

Yugoslavia national team[link]

• Earned gold medal with Yugoslavia's under-18 nationals at the European Cadet Championships in Rousse, Bulgaria in 1985
• Earned gold medal with Yugoslavia's under-21 nationals at the European Junior Championships in Gmunden, Austria in 1986
• Earned gold medal with Yugoslavia's under-21 nationals at the FIBA Junior World Championships of Basketball in Bormio, Italy in 1987, defeating the U.S. team twice in that tournament
• Earned silver medals in 1988 (for SFRY) and 1996 Olympics (for FRY)
• Earned gold medals with SFRY at the 1990 (Argentina) and with FRY at the 2002 FIBA World Championship (U.S.)
• Earned gold medals at European Championships in Zagreb 1989 and Rome 1991 (with SFRY), and in Athens 1995 (with FRY)

NBA[link]

• Named to the 1989–90 NBA All-Rookie First Team after averaging 8.5 ppg and 6.2 rpg for the Lakers
• Appeared in the 1991 NBA Finals against the Chicago Bulls and averaged 12.1 ppg, 7.5 rpg and 2.4 apg in 121 career NBA Playoff games
• Ranks 4th in Lakers franchise history with 830 blocked shots
• Ranked 2nd on the Kings in scoring (14.3 ppg), rebounds (10.0 rpg, 10th in the NBA), assists (4.3 apg) and blocked shots (1.02 bpg) in 1998–99
• Ranked 12th in the NBA in field-goal percentage (.503) in 1999–2000
• Named NBA All-Star, 2001
• One of only two basketball players born and trained in Europe to play at least 1,000 NBA games (1,134; Dirk Nowitzki is the other)
• One of only two basketball players born and trained in Europe (Dražen Petrović is the other) to have his number retired by an NBA team

See also[link]

• List of National Basketball Association players with 1000 games played
• List of National Basketball Association career rebounding leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career blocks leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career turnovers leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career playoff blocks leaders
• List of National Basketball Association players with 10 or more blocks in a game

Filmography[link]

Movies[link]

• The Weight of Chains (2010) -Himself
• We are No Angels 3: Rock & Roll Fight Back (2008) -God
• Crossover (2004) -Himself
• Juwanna Mann (2002) -Beat Player Morse
• Driving Me Crazy (TV) (2000) -Viglione, Gene
• Space Jam (1996) -Himself (Los Angeles Lakers)
• Eddie (1996) -Himself (Los Angeles Lakers)

Television[link]

• Želite li da postanete milioner? - Serbia, New Year's 2008 celebrity charity edition – Himself (Answered 13 questions, won RSD1,250,000)
• Crni Gruja, "Kolac" (2003) -Vampir Toza
• Rachel Gunn, R.N., "Rachel Sees Red" (2000)
• Married... with Children, " A Tisket, a Tasket, Can Peg Make a Basket?" (1993) – Himself
• Coach, "Dateline-Bangkok" (1992) -Delivery Man
• Good Sports, "The Reviews are in" (1991) -Himself
• Once Brothers -Documentary about Dražen Petrović and Vlade Divac on ESPN - October 2010

Notes[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Vlade Divac

• Vlade Divac playerfile @ NBA.com
• Divac's Charity
• Euroleague.net 50 greatest contributors
• Vlade Divac Statistics @ Basketball-Reference.com

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Šarūnas Marčiulionis	Mr. Europa 1989	Succeeded by Toni Kukoč
Civic offices
Preceded by Ivan Ćurković	President of the Olympic Committee of Serbia February 24, 2009 –	Succeeded by Incumbent

v t e 1988 Olympic Silver Medalists Men's Basketball – Yugoslavia Petrović Radulović Čutura Kukoč Paspalj Obradović Zdovc Vranković Divac Arapović Rađa Cvjetičanin Coach: Ivković

v t e 1996 Olympic Silver Medalists Men's Basketball – Yugoslavia 4 Bodiroga 5 Danilović 6 S. Obradović 7 Lončar 8 Paspalj 9 Berić 10 Đorđević 11 Rebrača 12 Divac 13 Savić 14 Tomašević 15 Topić Coach: Ž. Obradović

Mihaela Valentina Runceanu (4 May 1955, Buzău - 1 November 1989, Bucharest) was a Romanian pop singer and vocal techniques teacher. She became a successful vocal singer, her voice being highly appreciated in Romania. Many of her songs were hits, and she released two albums, Mihaela Runceanu and Pentru voi, muguri noi, the latter only one day before she was murdered in her home in Bucharest.

Childhood and education[link]

Mihaela Runceanu was born in Buzău, but, soon after, her parents moved to Bacău, where she started school. After moving back to Buzău, Mihaela attended the Music and Plastic Arts High School there. Upon finishing high school in 1974, she went to Bucharest to attend the Ciprian Porumbescu Music Conservatory, from which she graduated in 1978.

Career[link]

She started singing in high-school, and her debut took place in 1976 with a song that was broadcast on the radio. In 1975 and 1976 she participated in several music competitions and festivals. One of her songs was recorded on a Romanian 1976 hits LP.

After graduation, she taught violin at the music school in Brăila and then moved back to Buzău to teach violin at the Music and Plastic Arts High School, where she had been a student. In Buzău, she sang in a band, together with Laurenţiu Cazan and George Nicolescu, among others. In 1980, she took a position of vocal technique teacher at the Popular School of Arts in Bucharest, which she held until her death in 1989.

During her time in Bucharest she launched several hits, including De-ar fi să vii, Tu nu vei şti niciodată and Viaţa începe cu tine. In early December 1987, her first album, titled Mihaela Runceanu was released by Electrecord. Her second album, Pentru voi, muguri noi was released 31 October 1989, one day before her death.

Death[link]

On 1 November 1989, a personal friend of hers, Daniel Ştefănescu, visited her and insisted that they watch a videotape he had obtained (at the time, video material circulation was severely restricted by the communist government). After Mihaela went to sleep, Ştefănescu entered her bedroom and smothered her with a pillow. He then stole jewelry, electronics, and some other items that were difficult to obtain in Romania at the time, such as meat, imported cigarettes, and gasoline. He used some of the gasoline to set fire to the apartment.

The murderer was discovered by the investigators the next day and subsequently put on trial. In 1991, he was sentenced to 21 years of imprisonment. In 2006 he was released for good behaviour.

Mihaela Runceanu's tomb is located in the Dumbrava Cemetery in her home town, Buzău.

Legacy[link]

Her death did not receive a large media coverage due to communist censorship, therefore when she starred in the New Year's Eve Romanian National Television show, few Romanians were aware of her death two months before. Due to the restricted coverage of the murder in the communist media, many rumors emerged and circulated about the circumstances of her death, including one about the murderer being Nicu Ceauşescu^{[citation needed]} or another member of the Ceauşescu family^{[citation needed]}] and another about a young man found drowned in a Bucharest lake with a note confessing Mihaela Runceanu's murder.

After the Romanian Revolution of 1989, more information about the circumstances of her death were revealed, and details of the murderer's trial appeared in a local Buzău newspaper in 1990. Later, Nicolae Peneş wrote two books about Mihaela Runceanu, containing her biography as well as details of Ştefănescu's trial published in 1990.

An annual pop music festival is held in Buzău. It is named The Mihaela Runceanu music festival in honor of the late pop singer.

In 2004, Electrecord released an 18-song compilation of Mihaela Runceanu hits.

References[link]

• Peneş, Nicolae (1993) (in Romanian). Viaţa şi moartea Mihaelei Runceanu. Editura Divers Press. 
• Mihailov Chiciuc, Paula (15 January 2007). "Cântecul de lebădă" (in Romanian). Jurnalul Naţional. Archived from the original on 2007-10-11. http://web.archive.org/web/20071011140921/http://old.jurnalul.ro/articol.php?id=70014. Retrieved 2007-09-28. 

Oliver Mlakar (born 1 July 1935^[1]) is a Croatian television presenter, best known for hosting game shows. He was one of the most popular television personalities of Yugoslavia and Croatia.

Mlakar was born in Ptuj and lived in Osijek from 1945 to 1954.^[1] He moved to Zagreb in 1954 to study French and Italian at the University of Zagreb and began working as an announcer for Radio Zagreb in 1957. Mlakar became a full-time broadcaster for Television Zagreb in 1965, hosting Poziv na kviz, the first quiz show on Yugoslav television.^[2] His most acclaimed work was as a games show host and he became known internationally for hosting Jeux Sans Frontières in the 1970s, and Kviskoteka, a highly popular quiz show that ran from 1980 to 1995. He co-hosted the 1990 Eurovision Song Contest held at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall in Zagreb (former Yugoslavia). Almost a decade later in 1999, Mlakar was still involved with Eurovision, hosting Dora, the Croatian heat of the song contest. From 1993 to 2002, Mlakar hosted Kolo sreće, a Croatian version of Wheel of Fortune. He retired from his job at the Croatian Radiotelevision in 2002.^[1]

See also[link]

• List of Eurovision Song Contest presenters
• List of game show hosts

References[link]

External links[link]

• Oliver Mlakar: Omiljeni televizijski voditelj (Croatian)
• Mlakar: Voditeljski posao učio sam korak po korak (Croatian)

Preceded by Jacques Deschenaux and Lolita Morena

Eurovision Song Contest presenter (with Helga Vlahović) 1990

Succeeded by Gigliola Cinquetti and Toto Cutugno

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