Jarbas Passarinho

Jarbas Gonçalves Passarinho (11 January 1920 – 5 June 2016) was a Brazilian military officer and politician. Passarinho began his political career when he was appointed Governor of Pará. He served as head of several government ministries during both the Brazilian military government (1964–1985) and the transition to democracy. His government portfolios included Minister of Labor (1967–1969), Minister of Education (1969–1974), Minister of Social Security (1983–1985), and Minister of Justice (1990–1992). Passarinho was also a member of the Federal Senate, representing Pará for two tenures during military rule and the return to democracy, including a period as President of the Federal Senate from 1981 to 1983. In 1983, President João Figueiredo, the last president during military rule, appointed Passarinho as his Minister of Social Security, a position he held from 1983 until the end of Figueiredo's government in 1985.

In November 1986, following the end of military rule, Passarinho was elected to the interim Brazilian Constituent Assembly from Pará as a member of the Democratic Social Party (PDS).

The country transitioned to a democracy during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In October 1990, after Passarinho had returned to the Senate, President Fernando Collor de Mello to his Cabinet as Minister of Justice, where he served from October 1990 until April 1992. Passarinho remained one of Collor de Mello's allies in the National Senate, but failed to stop the President's impeachment later in 1992. later retired from the Senate in 1995.

Passarinho joined the new Partido Progressista Brasileiro (PPB) in 1995 following the merger of the PPR and the PP political parties.

In a 2004 interview, Passarinho stated that the Brazilian military government should have relinquished power during the 1970s.

During his life, Passarinho received 17 honorary degrees and doctorates from various Brazilian universities.

Jarbas Passarinho, a longtime resident of Brasília, died in the city from health problems due to old age on the morning of Sunday, 5 June 2016, at the age of 96. The government of Brazil decreed three days of national mourning in Passarinho's honor. His funeral, with full military honors, was held at the Paróquia Militar do Oratório with burial at the Campo da Esperança cemetery in Brasilia. Dignitaries in attendance at the funeral included the head of the Institutional Security Cabinet, Army General Sérgio Etchegoyen, and Minister of the Supreme Federal Court Marco Aurélio Mello. Interim President Michel Temer, Chief of Staff of Brazil Eliseu Padilha, and other officials released statements praising Passarinho's contributions to the country.

Passarinho's wife, Ruth de Castro Gonçalves Passarinho, with whom he had five children, died in August 1987.