Ivan Bodiul

Born Dec. 21, 1917 (Jan. 3, 1918), in the village of Aleksandrovka, in Nikolaev Province. Soviet party and state figure. Member of the CPSU from 1940. Born into a peasant family. Graduated from the Voznesensk Agricultural-Technical School (1937), the Military-Veterinary Academy (1942), and the Higher Party School of the Central Committee under the CPSU (1958).

From 1942, Bodiul held command posts in the Soviet Army in the field. He worked in Moldavia from 1946 to 1951, first on the staff of the Council of Ministers of the Moldavian SSR and later as a representative of the Council on Kolkhoz Affairs to the government of the USSR. He has been engaged in responsible party work since 1951. He was on the staff of the Central Committee of the CPSU in 1958 and 1959. From 1959 to 1961 he was second secretary, and from May 1961 first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Moldavia. He has been a member of the Central Committee of the CPSU since 1961. He was a deputy to the fifth through eighth convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. He has been awarded the Order of Lenin, three other orders, and medals.