Rafael Vardi

Rafael Vardi was born in 1922 in Łódź

Rafael Vardi was born in Łódź, Poland, and moved to the Land of Israel in 1932. He studied at the Gymnasia Balfour in Tel Aviv, where he met Shimon Peres in seventh grade.

He joined the Haganah as a teenager and commanded Battalion 55 of the Givati Brigade in the War of Independence. He later served as deputy commander of the Golani Brigade, military attaché in Burma and Thailand, and Chief Military Police Officer. He earned a law degree, became a lawyer in 1966, and later completed a master's degree in law at the Hebrew University.

In the Six-Day War he commanded the Jerusalem District, and in December 1967 he became commander of the Judea and Samaria Area. He was promoted to major general in 1974, became Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, and headed the Manpower Directorate from 1976 to 1978.

In 1980 he became Defense Establishment Comptroller and left in 1981 after Ariel Sharon became defense minister. He was Director General of the State Comptroller's office from 1983 to 1985. In 1999 Prime Minister Ehud Barak asked him to review the Broadcasting Authority, and he headed several other review committees.

He married Rina in 1949 and had three children. His eldest son Michael was killed in the Yom Kippur War and received the Medal of Courage. Vardi died on 25 December 2016.