Poet Leonida Lari departed this life in Chisinau in the morning of December 11, after suffering from cancer for many years, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Her life and work will always remain connected with the National Renaissance and Liberation Movement of the Bessarabian Romanians and with the national ideal. Our tumultuous history will present Leonida Lari as a legendary personality of the Romanians in Bessarabia, who was loved for her courage and determination and was followed by tens of thousands of people who were ready to give their lives for the supreme values of the Romanian people,” says a communiqué issued by the Liberal Party. Leonida Lari was born on October 26, 1949 in Bursuceni, Balti, in a family of teachers. She graduated from the Faculty of Philology of the State University of Moldova. She was the editor-in-chief of the journal “Literatura si Arta” (“Literature and Arts”) and editor-in-chief of the first publication in Latin script in Moldova “Glasul Natiunii” (“Voice of the People”). She was a deputy in the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, a member of the Standing Bureau of the People’s Front of Moldova, and a member of the Parliament of Romania, in three legislatures. Leonida Lari wrote 24 volumes of poetry and prose and translated poems from the universal literature. She was a citizen of honor of Bacau town and held the Order of the Republic. She won numerous prizes, including “Romania Mare” and the Romanian Academy’s prize for poetry “Mihai Eminescu”.