Janet Jagan

Janet Rosenberg Jagan (née Rosenberg; October 20, 1920 – March 28, 2009) was an American-born Guyanese politician who served as the 6th President of Guyana from 1997 to 1999. She was the first female president of Guyana, and the first American-born woman to serve as a head of state. She previously served as the first female Prime Minister of Guyana from 17 March 1997 to 19 December 1997. The wife of Cheddi Jagan, whom she succeeded as president, she was awarded Guyana's highest national award, the Order of Excellence, in 1993, and the UNESCO Mahatma Gandhi Gold Medal for Women's Rights in 1998.

Early years and marriage Jagan was born Janet Rosenberg on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, on October 20, 1920. Her parents, Kathryn (née Kronberg) (1895–1990) and Charles Rosenberg (1891–1957), were Jewish. She had one brother, Maurice Rosenberg (1917–2006). Her maternal grandparents, Adolph and Rosa Kronberg (née Appelbaum), were Jewish immigrants. Adolph immigrated to Chicago from Romania and Rosa came from Hungary. The Rosenberg family lived in a bungalow at 7532 S. East End Avenue in the middle-class, formerly all-white neighborhood of South Shore. In December 1942, aged 22, while working as a student nurse at Cook County Hospital, she met Cheddi Jagan, a Hindu Indo-Guyanese dentistry student at Northwestern University. she and her husband were co-founders of the democratic socialist People's Progressive Party (PPP); winning a seat from Essequibo constituency. As a member of the Elections Commission for the opposition in 1967, she expressed concern about the possibility of vote rigging. She was also the editor of the PPP newspaper Mirror from 1973 to 1997. Jagan was the presidential candidate of the PPP in the December 1997 election. The PPP won the election,

Resignation and death On July 1, 1999, after Jagan returned from the European-Latin American summit in Rio de Janeiro, she was admitted to St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital in the capital, Georgetown, due to chest pains and exhaustion. She was treated for a heart condition and released from the hospital on July 3. Later in the month, she underwent tests regarding her heart condition at the Akron City Hospital in Akron, Ohio; she was discharged on July 23. Returning to Guyana, she received heart medication and was told that bypass surgery was not necessary.

Jagan resigned as President on August 8, 1999, because her health left her incapable of "vigorous, strong leadership"; she said that Finance Minister Bharrat Jagdeo would be her successor. Jagdeo was sworn in as President on August 11.

Despite her resignation, Jagan remained active in the PPP. At the PPP's 29th Congress, Jagan had received the second highest number of votes (671) in the election to the party's Central Committee, held on August 2, 2008. in addition to being elected as editor of the PPP paper Thunder, on August 12, 2008. Her body was cremated on March 31, 2009, in Guyana.

Writings In 1993, Peepal Tree Press published her When Grandpa Cheddi was a Boy and Other Stories, followed by Patricia, the Baby Manatee (1995), Anastasia the Ant-Eater (1997) and The Dog Who Loved Flowers.