Vladan Đorđević

Ipokrat "Vladan" Đorđević (, , 21 November 1844 – 31 August 1930) was a Serbian politician, diplomat, physician, writer, and organizer of the State Sanitary Service. He held the post of mayor of Belgrade, Minister of Education, Prime Minister of Serbia, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Envoy to Athens and Istanbul.

Early life Ipokrat Đorđević (Ипократ Ђорђевић) was born in Belgrade, the son of pharmacist Đorđe Đorđević and Marija (née Leko). Both of his parents were Aromanians. He had two siblings.

His father came from a family that had long been established in Serbia. Vladan Đorđević's mother died when he was only seven years old, but his father brought him up in Sarajevo, where he moved to open a pharmacy.

During the Serbian-Ottoman wars of 1876 and 1877-78, he tried to implement Prussian practice of medicine, thus founding the Red Cross of Serbia. In 1879 he was in charge of Serbian Kingdom's health sector and one of the first physicians to work on public health within the state administration, obtained parliamentary support for a law on the establishment of a national health fund. By securing financing for the health service, Đorđević not only ensured its creation but also received official recognition for hygiene being a public good that should be advanced by means of state contributions. In 1880 he married his Viennese sweetheart Paulina, who bore him fifteen children. He was the principal founder of the Serbian Red Cross,

Upon taking the office, he "chased away bureaucrats and protectionists", arranged the quay along the Sava bank and introduced street lanterns. In 1880, the administration introduced the new city tax (trošarina), intended to be used for the construction of waterworks, sewage, schools, cobblestone pavement, etc. A special municipal commission was sent to London, UK, and to other European cities, to check how the communal matters are resolved there. Đorđević decided to use the tax for setting the foundations of the municipal solid waste collecting system. He regulated the disposal of the garbage from private houses and organized "cleaning troops" within the Fire department. In order to make the garbage collecting operational, Đorđević ordered the purchase of carts, one for each quarter of the city, 14 oxen, 13 employees and organized the administrative service. Due to the cholera outbreaks and his medical background, Đorđević envisioned the system primarily for the sanitation and health reasons, thus as a non-profit enterprise so the fee paid by the citizens was symbolic.

Prime minister In 1894 he retired from his position and went to live in Paris. No sooner had he arrived when he was called back to Belgrade and made an envoy to Constantinople.

Đorđević was awarded Order of Saint Sava, Order of the Cross of Takovo and is included in The 100 most prominent Serbs.

An exhibit at the Gallery of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts titled "A portrait of a tireless creator" was opened in November 2020. During the exhibit, Đorđević's autobiography Memories (2500 pages) was presented to the public for the first time.

Works Otadžbina (Fatherland), Beograd: Štamparija kraljevine srpske, 1890 Srbija na Berlinskom Kongresu, Beograd: Štamparija kraljevine srpske, 1890 Grčka i srpska prosveta, Srpska kraljevska akademija, 1896 Kraj jedne dinastije: 1899–1900, Štamparija D. Dimitrijevića, 1906 Moja odbrana pred sudom (My defense before the court), Beograd: Narodna štamparija, 1906 Srpsko-turski rat: uspomene i beleške iz 1876, 1877 i 1878 godine, Volume 1, Izdanje Ignjata Daničića, 1907 Istorija srpsko-bugarskog rata 1885: Od Slivnice do Pirota, Nova štamparija "Davidović", 1908 Evropa i Crna Gora, Sv. Sava, 1912 Evropa i Balkan: Evropa i Rumunija, Sv. Sava, 1911 Arnauti i velike sile, Izdavač trgovina Jevte M. Parlovića i kompanija, 1913 Mladi kralj, Štamparija kraljevine srbije, 1913 Car Dušan: istorijski roman iz XIV-oga veka, Volumes I-III, Naklada Hrvatskog štamparskog zavoda, 1920 Golgota: silazak sa prestola, Beograd, 1933