Constantin Stere
(b. June 1/13, 1865, Ciripcău, Republic of Moldova – d. June 26, 1936, Bucov, Romania)
Constantin Stere was a prominent politician, a lawyer, a professor and a prolific writer. He was one of the leaders of the Romanian national movement in Bessarabia.
While still a high school student, he was arrested in Chișinău due to his nationalist activity. Refusing to abjure his revolutionary credo, he was deported to Siberia in 1886, where he spent six years. After his release, he managed to cross the border into the Old Kingdom of Romania and settled in Iași. He completed his law studies at the University of Iași, whose Rector he became in 1913.
As a result of local political disputes, he left Iași in 1913 and settled in Bucharest. Two years later, at the invitation of Ion Inculeț and Daniel Ciugureanu, he visited Chișinău, where he gave a speech to the Parliament on March 27, in which he pleaded for the union of Bessarabia with Romania. He played an important role in the preparation of the act proclaiming the unification of Bessarabia with Romania, which was voted by the Country Council of the province on March27/April 9, 1918. In recognition of his activity, he was elected President of the Council on April 3, 1918. He was part of the delegation of the Country Council that presented the Act of Union to King Ferdinand I.