Yossi Sarid

Yossi Sarid was born in 1940 in Rehovot

Sarid was born in Rehovot in 1940 as Yosef Schneider. His father, Yaakov, was a Mapai member who later became director general of the Education Ministry, and his mother, Dova, was a teacher. The family moved to Tel Aviv in 1951 and to Jerusalem in 1954.

He joined the IDF in 1958 and served in the Artillery Corps and as a military correspondent. He earned a BA in literature and philosophy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MA in political science and sociology from the New School for Social Research in the United States.

In the early 1960s he worked as a reporter for Davar and as a Kol Israel announcer. He was Mapai spokesman from 1964 to 1967 and served as spokesman for Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. He was first elected to the Knesset for the Alignment and taught civics in Kiryat Shmona while serving as a member.

In 1984 he left the Alignment for Ratz after Labor joined a unity government with Likud. He was Minister of the Environment from 1992, led Meretz from 1996 and became Minister of Education in 1999, resigning in 2000. He was Leader of the Opposition from 2001 to 2003.

He stepped down as Meretz leader after the 2003 elections and retired from politics in 2006. He wrote a weekly column for Haaretz. He was married to Dorit and had three children, and he died in 2015.