Ioan Missir

Ioan Missir (February 17, 1890 – November 30, 1945) was a Romanian lawyer, politician and novelist. Born in the United States, he was raised in his father's native country from early childhood. There, he took part in World War I as an officer, worked as a lawyer and rose in local politics to become mayor. Missir's wartime experience informed his only novel, the 1937 Fata Moartă, which proved a resounding critical and commercial success.

Biography His father Bogdan came from a well-known Armenian family that included Petru Th. Missir. He married the Swiss schoolteacher Cécile Marchand, and emigrated to the United States. Settling in Hudson County, New Jersey, he became a farmer; Ioan was the second of four children and was born in what was then West Hoboken, New Jersey (now part of Union City). The family business was only a moderate success; probably coupled with nostalgia, they returned home to Botoșani in 1894. Sent to the Carpathian front, he took part in all the campaigns of 1916–1917. He eventually rose to the rank of captain, serving until his unit was demobilized after the Treaty of Bucharest. It is seen as one of a handful of enduring Romanian novels of World War I. Although Missir published no other novels, he did write a manuscript about the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina; this appears lost. Following the Romanian Revolution, his daughter donated a book of memoirs to the Museum of Romanian Literature.