NUUK, Greenland, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Jonathan Motzfeldt, who led the movement for home rule in Greenland and became its first prime minister, has died, the current prime minister announced.
Motzfeldt, who was 72 and had cancer, suffered a brain hemorrhage Thursday, the Canadian newspaper Nunatsiaq News reported.
Prime Minister Kuupik Kleist called him "a spirited personality, intelligent and human".
"Junnuk was for many years the Greenlandic people's supporter and torch-bearer, our national rallying point. In our country's recent history, there was not a prouder person than Junnuk," he said, using Motzfeldt's Inuit name.
Motzfeldt was born in Qassimiut, a small settlement in southern Greenland. He studied for the Lutheran ministry in Copenhagen, Denmark.
After leading Greenland's movement for greater independence from Denmark, Motzfeldt became the first home-rule prime minister in 1979. He served until 1991 and again from 1997 to 2002, and was also the leader of the Siumut Party for much of that time.
UPI
