José Juan Bautista Pampuro (28 December 1949 – 21 January 2021) was an Argentine politician. He was a member of the Justicialist Party, a Defense Minister and a senator for Buenos Aires Province. From 2006 to 2011 he served as the Provisional President of the Senate.

Political career

Pampuro entered public service in 1983, when he was named Public Health Secretary to the Mayor of

Lanús Lanús () is the capital of Lanús Partido, Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. It lies just south of the capital city Buenos Aires, in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area. The city has a population of 212,152 (), and the Partido de Lan� ...

, Manuel Quindimil. He was elected to the Lower House of Congress on the populist Justicialist Party ticket in 1987, and was named Minister of Health and Social Policy for Buenos Aires Province by newly elected Governor

Eduardo Duhalde Eduardo Alberto Duhalde (; born 5 October 1941) is an Argentine Peronist politician who served as the interim President of Argentina from January 2002 to May 2003. He also served as Vice President and Governor of Buenos Aires in the 1990s. B ...

in 1991. He was named director of the Buenos Aires Provincial Office (each Argentine province maintains one in the nation's capital) in 1993, and remained in the post until being returned by voters to Congress in 1999. Eduardo Duhalde, appointed President of Argentina by Congress during a crisis in 2002, named Pampuro General Secretary of the Presidency, and on 25 May 2003, he was retained in government by President

Néstor Kirchner Néstor Carlos Kirchner (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, Secretary General of UNASUR and ...

, who named Pampuro his first Defense Minister. Pampuro was elected to the Senate on the

Front for Victory The Front for Victory ( es, Frente para la Victoria, FPV) was a centre-left Peronist electoral alliance in Argentina, and is formally a faction of the Justicialist Party. Former presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner we ...

slate alongside

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (; born 19 February 1953), often referred to by her initials CFK, is an Argentine lawyer and politician who has served as the Vice President of Argentina since 2019. She also served as the President o ...

in the 2005 mid-term elections, in which the center-left Front for Victory did well. He was elected Provisional President of the Senate on 22 February 2006, putting him second in line to the presidency, and twice as President of the

Mercosur Parliament The Mercosur Parliament ( es, link=no, Parlamento del Mercosur, pt, Parlamento do Mercosul), known also as Parlasur, or Parlasul, is the parliamentary institution of the Mercosur trade bloc. It is composed of 81 MPs, 18 from each member states ...

(during the first half of 2008 and the first half of 2010). Pampuro retired from the Senate in 2011 with the distinction of being the first man in Argentina to twice be succeeded by women who were first to hold their respective posts: as Defense Minister by

Nilda Garré Nilda Celia Garré (born November 3, 1945) is an Argentine lawyer, politician, and diplomat. She was Minister of Defense during the presidency of the late Nestor Kirchner and remained in this position, and as Minister of Security, under Preside ...

, and as Provisional President of the Senate by Beatriz Rojkés de Alperovich.

Personal life

Pampuro was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

in 1949. He enrolled at the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most prestigi ...

and earned a Medical Degree. Pampuro died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

on 21 January 2021 at a hospital in Buenos Aires, aged 71.

References

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pampuro, Jose 1949 births 2021 deaths People from Buenos Aires Argentine people of Italian descent University of Buenos Aires alumni Argentine physicians Members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies elected in Buenos Aires Province Defense ministers of Argentina Members of the Argentine Senate for Buenos Aires Province Justicialist Party politicians Deaths from cancer in Argentina