Vigdís Finnbogadóttir
Vigdís Finnbogadóttir was elected president on 29 June 1980. She left office in 1996.
The fourth president of the republic, Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, was born in Reykjavík on 15 April 1930. She was the first single woman in Iceland to adopt a child, her daughter Ástríður Magnúsdóttir.
Vigdís graduated from upper secondary school in 1949 and went on to study French language and literature in Grenoble and Paris and theatre history at the University of Copenhagen. She earned a BA in French with a teaching certification from the University of Iceland in 1968.
Vigdís worked as press officer for the National Theatre of Iceland, as a school teacher and tour guide, and, for a time, as an instructor at the University of Iceland. She was hired to direct the Reykjavík Theatre Company in 1972, the first woman to hold the position.
Vigdís was the first woman in the world to be democratically elected as a head of state. She served four terms as president. She was re-elected without opposition twice, in 1984 and 1992, and won re-election against an opponent in 1988.
A detailed account of Vigdís’ Finnbogadóttir’s presidency can be found at vigdis.is.