Ioan Lazăr Kalinderu (born Calenderoglu, also known as Iancu Kalinderu, Ioan Kelenderu, Ioanŭ Calenderu, or Jean Kalindéro; December 28 or 29, 1840 – December 11, 1913) was a Wallachian, later Romanian jurist and confidant of King Carol I, who served for thirty years as the administrator of crown domains, and for three years as president of the Romanian Academy. Educated in France, he was the son of a rich and influential Greek-Romanian banker, Lazăr Kalenderoglu, and the brother of physician Nicolae Kalinderu. Like them, he was a sympathizer of the National Liberal Party, with which he debuted in politics in the 1880s. Kalideru was an expert in Roman law, but his attempts in the field, as well as his later studies in the history of Ancient Rome, are generally seen as minor contributions. His overall competence as an interpreter of law was questioned following his handling of the Strousberg Affair, although he served on the Court of Cassation and on international bodies of experts. Kalinderu stayed on as Carol's legal adviser, also helping him in direct negotiations with the National Liberal and Conservative political machines, and was several times considered for the office of Prime Minister. As administrator for the crown, Kalinderu enacted his vision of rural improvement, setting up model farms and a cottage industry, promoting literacy and the arts, and encouraging entrepreneurship. He viewed these methods as a working alternative to land reform, defending property rights during and after the peasants' revolt of 1907. He was praised for his passion and dedication, but also criticized for the uncertainty of their outcome. In addition to his agrarian project and his social work, Kalinderu played a significant part in promoting mountaineering and modern forestry, set up the resort of Bușteni, and created his own art museum. A picturesque figure with eccentric customs, and often regarded as snobbish and servile, he became a stock character for the writers and cartoonists at Furnica magazine. His unfulfilled promise to donate his fortune to the public bled into a posthumous scandal which lasted into the interwar years.
Biography
Origins and early life Born in Bucharest on December 28 or 29, 1840, his father was Lazăr (Lazaros) Kalenderoglu (or Calenderoglu). Of possible Smyrniote origin, the family functioned as one of the largest banking and exporting institutions in Wallachia, and then in the United Principalities. Lazăr had risen into the ranks of Wallachia's boyar nobility: joining the Bucharest local government in 1838, 1844, and 1847, he was awarded the title of pitar, advancing to paharnic in the 1850s. His son would later falsely claim that the Kalenderoglus played a part in the Wallachian Revolution of 1848, although Lazăr is known to have held relevant positions in the National Party in 1857, briefly serving as its chairman alongside Constantin A. Kretzulescu. The last-ever tenant and tax collector of Predeal customs, Kalenderoglu had his estate in Olt County, outside Colonești, reduced during the land reform of 1864. Another of his estates, at Bălcești, was repurchased by the Bălcescu boyars. However, he still left Ioan the manor of Schitu-Greci. Although a Wallachian native and relatively assimilated, Lazăr was sometimes regarded as an ethnic Turk, owing to his Turkish-sounding surname, or an Armenian. He identified as Greek-Romanian and, as late as 1879, was ktitor of an eponymous Greek Orthodox church in Bucharest. His fully assimilated son later barred the Greek colony from attending the church, and rededicated it to Romanian Orthodoxy. According to polemicist Alexandru Candiano-Popescu, the future Ioan Kalinderu was snobbish and "could not bear his descent from some obscure lineage"; he therefore claimed Eastern Roman descent, "having found a name that matched his own" in the books of Joseph von Hammer. Ioan and his brother Nicolae were educated in Greek, before graduating high school in Bucharest. Ioan studied law at the University of Paris. Taking his license degree with a study of dowries in Roman law (1860), and earning a doctorate with a thesis on ex post facto laws (De la non-rétroactivité des lois, 1864), he returned home to take up positions as a judge, serving as the first president of Bucharest Tribunal. He then became a counselor with the Court of Cassation. From 1872, the Ministry of Justice employed him as an adviser for penal reform, alongside Vasile Boerescu, Nicolae Mandrea, Grigore Păucescu, Mihail Pherekyde and Grigore Triandafil. Boerescu referred to Kalinderu as "a man of the new world, with very progressive ideas, and an excellent jurisconsult." At the time, his family was involved with the liberal-radical movement. Brother Nicolae, a Paris-trained physician, became one of the founders of the National Liberal Party in 1875. The aged Kalenderoglu was founder of Creditul Rural, a credit union for the benefit of peasants, alongside major liberal figures.
… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.
