Mirko Marjanović

Mirko Marjanović (Мирко Марјановић, mǐːrko marjǎːnoʋit͡ɕ; 27 July 1937 – 21 February 2006) was a Serbian politician who served as the prime minister of Serbia from 1994 to 2000. Marjanović was born on 27 July 1937 in Knin into a large working-class family with 7 children, where he finished gymnasium. He had four brothers and 2 sisters and his father Dušan worked in a local factory, while his mother Marija was a homemaker. During the season of 1955/56 he played as a winger for the football club HNK Dinara that is based in Knin. Marjanović later then moved to Zagreb where he attended musical academy which he ended up not finishing because he moved to live in Belgrade. In 1960, he graduated at University of Belgrade's Faculty of Economics, more specifically at the department for microeconomics. Upon graduation, Marjanović came back to Knin since he found employment there as the supervisor in the Tvik factory. From there, he advanced to the position of financial director, and eventually moving on to a metallurgical factory in Zenica. In 1973, he transferred to the Moscow outpost of Progres. By 1976, he quickly advanced up the ranks to become one of the directors at Progres. He handled the company's steel division in Russia quite successfully while developing an impressive network of influential friends and business partners such as Viktor Chernomyrdin (later to become Prime Minister of Russia), and Yuri Brezhnev, son of Leonid Brezhnev. Later in 1979, he was named as Progres' general director, a role he would hold until his death. From 1989 until 1994, he was the president of FK Partizan's executive board. One of his more notable moves while at the post was bringing Predrag Mijatović to the club in December 1989. Mijatović, at the time a young promising player from Titograd's FK Budućnost, was very close to signing with Hajduk Split when Marjanović stepped in and convinced him to come to Belgrade. Upon leaving the club, Marjanović was named Partizan's honorary president.