Who is Michel Temer? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Also Known As: Michel Miguel Elias Temer Lulia

Age: 82 Years, 82 Year Old Males

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Marcela Tedeschi Temer (m. 2003), Maria Célia de Toledo (m. 1969-1987)

father: March Barbar Lulia

mother: Nakhoul

children: Clarissa (b. 1974), Eduardo (b. 1999), Luciana (b. 1969), Maristela (b. 1972), Michel (b. 2009)

Partner: Érika Ferraz

Presidents Political Leaders

Height: 5'7" (170 cm), 5'7" Males

Ancestry: Lebanese Brazilian

Notable Alumni: Pontifical Catholic University Of São Paulo, University Of São Paulo

More Facts

education: University Of São Paulo, Pontifical Catholic University Of São Paulo

awards: Legion of Honour
Grand Officer of the Order of Prince Henry
Grand Cross of Dannebrog

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Childhood & Early Life

Michel Miguel Elias Temer Lulia was born on September 23, 1940, in Tietê, São Paulo, Brazil, to Maronite Catholic Lebanese immigrants Nakhoul 'Miguel' Elias Temer Lulia and March Barbar Lulia.

In 1925, his parent and three older siblings had immigrated to Brazil from the small Lebanese village of Btaaboura in an attempt to escape famine and instability following World War I.

His parents had five more children after settling in Brazil, and Temer was the youngest among eight of them. He wanted to become a pianist when he was a child, but could not do so because there were no piano teachers in his city.

He initially was studied science in high school, but gave up the course after failing in chemistry and physics in his freshman year. He later moved to São Paulo in 1957 and finished his school education in humanities and languages under the 'curso clássico'.

In 1959, Temer followed his older brothers to the law school of the University of São Paulo, and took his first steps towards a political career by becoming a treasurer of the school's students' union. He ran for the presidency of the union when he was in third year of the law school, but lost the election by 82 votes.

While he remained neutral until the Brazilian coup d'état in 1964, he gradually distanced himself from active politics when the Armed Forces began the two-decade-long military rule. He went back to school and earned a doctorate in public law at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP) in 1974.

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Academic Career

Michel Temer began his academic career in 1968 by teaching constitutional and civil law at PUC-SP, where he also served as the director of the postgraduate department. During this time, he was also the director of the Brazilian Institute of Constitutional Law and a member of the Ibero-American Institute of Constitutional Law.

In 1982, he published the book 'Elements of Constitutional Law', in which he discussed the organization of the Brazilian state, with special focus on the separation of powers. The book became quite popular and sold over 240,000 copies.

He published another book in 2006, 'Democracy and Citizenship', in which he included some of his speeches as a federal deputy to highlight the relevance of law. In his books, he supported parliamentarism and a political recall system and opposed economic interventionism and tax increases.

Despite writing notable books on law and constitution, he did not consider himself a proper writer until he published his book of poems in 2013. Called 'Anonymous Intimacy', the book consisted of 120 poems. He originally wrote most of the poems on napkins during his plane trips between São Paulo and Brasílla as an escape from the "barren arena of legislative politics".

Political Career

In 1964, Michel Temer became a member of Education Secretary Ataliba Nogueira's office in the São Paulo state government. He served in that position for two years and later became a state prosecutor in 1970.

He was appointed Attorney General for the state of São Paulo, and became the Secretary of Public Security of the state the following year. Temer, who returned to the position again in 1990, modernized the department in various ways, which would later become a model for other parts of the country.

He became a member of the National Constituent Assembly in 1986 and was elected constituent deputy from the PMDB, the largest party in Brazil. He was elected federal deputy from the PMDB in 1987.

He served a total of six mandates as a federal deputy from 1987 to 1991 and then again between 1994 and 2010. He took occasional breaks to oversee the Public Safety Department and serve as the government secretary.

He was elected the President of the Chamber of Deputies three separate times, and served for two years each in 1997–1998, 1999–2000 and 2009–2010. He was elected as the president of the PMDB on September 9th, 2001, and has been re-elected five more times since then.

As the running mate for Dilma Rousseff, he became the 24th Vice President of Brazil in 2010 when Rousseff came to office. He was re-elected in that position in 2014; therefore, remaining in office from January 1, 2011 to August 31, 2016. He took over as the 37th President of Brazil after Rousseff was impeached.

Temer's Presidency was marred by constant allegations of corruption, bribery, obstruction of justice and electoral fraud charges, which resulted in two impeachment attempts against him, one in April 2016 and the other in May 2017. According to a June 2017 poll, his approval rating was at 7%, the lowest for any president in over three decades.

Awards & Achievements

In 1985, Michel Temer created the Security Community Councils (CONSEG) and established the first police station for women in Brazil after receiving a commission denouncing negligence by the authorities in physical abuse cases against women. In the following years, he also set up the Bureau for the Protection of Copyrights and the Bureau for the Assessment of Race-related Crimes.

In 1998, Temer was awarded 'Legion of Honor' by the French government and was given 'Knighthood of the Order of Prince Henry' by Portugal.

He was named a member of the Grand Cross of Dannebrog by Denmark in 1999.

Family & Personal Life

Michel Temer was married to his first wife Maria Célia de Toledo from 1969 to 1987, and they had three daughters together: Luciana, Maristela, and Clarissa. He was later in a relationship with journalist Érica Ferraz, who gave birth to their son Eduardo in 1999.

He met former beauty pageant winner Marcela Tedeschi, 43 years his younger, at the annual political convention of the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party in 2002. They got married in a small ceremony on July 26, 2003, and have a son named Michel.

Trivia

Interestingly, when Michel Temer began serving as the acting president following corruption charges against Rousseff, he himself was awaiting a court decision regarding an impeachment procedure against him. He was also convicted of violating election laws in June 2016, which prevented him from campaigning for a full presidency in the 2018 election.

Michel Temer Biography