Former minister and MK Gad Ya'akobi dies at 72

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Former minister and member of Knesset Gad Ya'akobi passed away Monday. He was 72 years old. Ya'akobi was a Ma'arakh (today: Labor) MK in six consecutive coalitions and in the government he served as the transportation minister, the economic and planning minister (as the ministry was then called) and communications minister. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert expressed deep remorse and said Ya'akobi was a not only a pragmatist and a son of the agricultural settlement but a person of vast intellect, a "rare combination, in political life."