36 Facts About Ion Lapedatu

Ion Lapedatu was finance minister of Romania, Governor of the National Bank of Romania, and honorary member of the Romanian Academy.

Ion Lapedatu was the son of Ioan Alexandru Lapedatu, Ph.

Ion Lapedatu had a twin brother, Alexandru Lapedatu, historian, politician and President of the Romanian Academy.

Ion Lapedatu married Veturia Papp in March 1907; she was the daughter of the orthodox protopope from Belenyes.

Ion Lapedatu started primary school in 1883 in his hometown.

Ion Lapedatu continued his primary studies in Brasso, then finished it in the year 1888 in Iasi, where his mother remarried after the death of his father.

Ion Lapedatu then returned to Brasso, where he was admitted in the Higher Greek-Orthodox Romanian College, then continues his studies in Higher Commercial School in Brasso, obtaining his bachelor's degree "with distinction" in June 1898.

In 1911 Ion Lapedatu became director of the newly established "General Assurance Bank" in Sibiu.

Ion Lapedatu had numerous appointments to various administrative councils, among which at the Albina Bank in Sibiu, at the Gojdu Foundation, and since 1925 at SONAMETAN, the national corporation established to exploit the methane gas deposits discovered in Transylvania, where he became Chairman.

Ion Lapedatu already showed his political talent as a student.

Ion Lapedatu received his first political appointment as general secretary of the finance department in the "Directory Council of Transylvania, Banat and the Romanian Counties in Hungary".

Ion Lapedatu left it in 1926 together with Vasile Goldis and Ioan Lupas before its merger with the Peasants' Party when he became Finance Minister in the Government of Alexandru Averescu.

Ion Lapedatu was elected in 1906 secretary of the "Romanian Banks Delegation" acting in between conferences; in this position he drove the development of the initiative from a consultative to an executive role.

Ion Lapedatu elaborated the statutes of the future "Solidaritatea" Association in compliance with the Hungarian financial law in effect at that time, enrolled the support required for having it registered and approved in 1907; he became its secretary.

Ion Lapedatu is credited as the founder of the insurance system for the Romanians in Transylvania.

Ion Lapedatu authored the "Theory of the Life Insurance" published in 1902 in Brasov, the first work on this topic in Romanian in Transylvania.

Ion I Lapedatu prepared the foundation documents, ran the successful subscription campaign, and obtained all necessary approvals.

Ion Lapedatu was appointed general director, later chairman, and led it to become one of the most important insurance institutions in the united Romania, changing its name first in "Romania", then in "Prima Ardeleana".

Ion Lapedatu was a delegate of Romania to the Brussels Financial Conference, 1920.

Ion Lapedatu was nominated president and appointed by the members of the "Liquidation Commission in Budapest" in March 1920, in order to close open public and private issues between Hungary and Romania, and between their citizens that arose from the integration of Transylvania into Romania.

In 1930, Lapedatu was elected as President of the Romanian delegation to address the question of the Gojdu Foundation, following the agreement between the Ministries of External Affairs of Romania and Hungary; he reached an amiable solution in 1936, ratified on 5 May 1938 by King Carol II of Romania and on 20 June 1940 by Regent Miklos Horthy of Hungary; it could not be enforced in the aftermath of the Second Vienna Award, and as of 2025 the issue is still open.

Ion Lapedatu started publishing in his college years, 1897 in Gazeta de Transilvania, and 1898 in Telegraful Roman.

Ion Lapedatu had an intensive publishing activity in his specialty.

Ion Lapedatu started his long lasting collaboration with the Revista Economica in 1904 with the first article of a series on accounting; he became its director in 1906.

Ion Lapedatu published 18 books, 2 monographs, 298 studies, notes, general economic analyses and reports, 20 papers, 13 speeches on economic, social and political subjects.

Ion Lapedatu was elected honorary member of the Romanian Academy in 1936.

Ion Lapedatu had a passion for hiking; he was for more than 20 years an active member of the "Siebenburgischer Karpathen Verein", the hiking association of the Saxons in Brasov.

Ion Lapedatu provided significant financial means to support artists, national schools and churches, among which the Administration of the Central Romanian Orthodox Schools in Brasov, the Central High Commercial School in Brasov, the orthodox cathedral in Orastie, the monument of WWI heroes in Sacele, the restoration of patrimony monuments including the monasteries Curtea de Arges and Aninoasa, and the Golesti architectural complex.

Ion Lapedatu was elected together with Valeriu Braniste, Ioan Lupas, Octavian Goga and Ion Agarbiceanu in the administration council of the "Foundation for the Support of Romanian Journalists" established by Dr Ioan Mihu in 1911.

Ion Lapedatu assumed the task of collecting funds, and complemented contributions from significant donors with a "greetings fund" in which small contributions could be made instead of sending cards or gifts: the Foundation published the donation to inform the addressees of the greetings.

In 1918, as Ion Lapedatu stopped his activity to dedicate his time and energy to the integration of Transylvania in the united Romania, the Foundation and its patrimony were transferred to the "Trade Union of Transylvanian Journalists".

On 14 September 1939 Ion Lapedatu registered the "Establishment Veturia I Lapedatu", a charitable institution for retired intellectuals with limited financial means and for meritorious students; the founding act put it under the Romanian Orthodox Archbishop of Alba Iulia and Sibiu.

Ion Lapedatu contributed almost one third of the starting financial contributions, that included donations from sponsors and further contributions from former beneficiaries of the "Students' Table" in Sibiu funded by the Albina bank that has been directed for several years by Veturia I Lapedatu; in 1948, the patrimony of the Establishment was nationalized and its financial means lost their value following the 1947 monetary revaluation.

In 1945 Ion Lapedatu was dismissed from the National Bank of Romania at the installation of the Petru Groza cabinet in March 1945.

Ion Lapedatu died on 24 March 1951 in Bucharest, after long suffering.

Ion Lapedatu is buried in the Groaveri Cemetery in Brasov.