Christopher Loeak

Iroijlaplap Christopher Jorebon Loeak ( 11 November 1952 – 8 August 2025) was a Marshallese politician who was the President of the Marshall Islands from 2012 to 2016. He was elected by parliament as President in January 2012, following the 2011 general election. He attended Marshall Islands High School before traveling to the United States to study at the Hawaii Pacific College and Gonzaga University School of Law. Loeak was a native speaker of Marshallese and also spoke English. He was married to Anono Lieom Loeak and had three children, along with eight grandchildren.

Loeak died in Honolulu under medical care on 8 August 2025, at the age of 72.

Political career Loeak was first elected to the Nitijela in 1985 when he represented the Ailinglaplap Atoll.

Loeak was re-elected to the Nitijela in 2007 and continued to hold the seat of Ailinglaplap afterwards.

On 26 September 2013, Loeak made a speech to the General Debate of the 68th Session of the United Nations General Assembly and said:

Global efforts on climate change are falling short - and low-lying island nations such as mine are already paying the earliest costs of what is fast becoming a global crisis. In every sense, the world must build for future risks, and too often, we are still setting course for current conditions. It is the seas that are rising - not the islands that are sinking. I will not concede my own land or my nation; but nor will I rest until my fellow world leaders have signed onto to act, not just out of economic convenience, but out of a common responsibility of all to strive for upward momentum.

After the presidency Loeak was appointed the Minister in Assistance to the President by President David Kabua in January 2020. On 4 September 2021, he succeeded to the throne of Ailinglaplap, becoming the new Iroijlaplap following the death of Kotak Litokwa Loeak.