Ema Derossi-Bjelajac


Ema Derossi-Bjelajac, sometimes rendered Derosi-Bjelajac, was a Croatian politician who served as the President of the Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Croatia from 1985 until 1986. She was the first woman to hold a title equivalent to a head of state in modern-day Croatia.

Biography

She served in a number of high-ranking functions within the League of Communists of Croatia and the Croatian republican government of the period: notably, she was a Member of the Central Committee of the League between 1964–1974, and was a Member and Deputy Speaker of the Croatian Parliament between 1978 and 1982. She served in the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia from 1964 to 1968.
On 20 June 2020, she died in Zagreb, aged 94.