Samak Sundaravej, the 25th prime minister of Thailand who had been disqualified from office in 2008 because of hosting a cooking show,died of liver cancer Tuesday morning in a Bangkok hospital, Thai media reported.
Samak had been treated for cancer in Bamrungrat Hospital in Bangkok for about a year,
Thai News Agency reported. He was sent into ICU on Monday due to deterioration of condition and passed away on Tuesday, at the age of 74.
According to the report, Samak's funeral will be held at Benjamaborpit Temple and a royally-sponsored bathing rite is set for Wednesday.
He was elected as Prime Minister in January 2008 after his party, the People Power Party,
won the first general election since the military coup that ousted the former premier Thaksin
Shinawatra in 2006.
Thaksin's brother-in-law, Samak had been accused since then by the anti-Thaksin group
the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) as the proxy of Thaksin.
He was forced to quit office in September 2008 when the Constitutional Court ruled that
he had violated the Constitution by accepting payments to appear on cooking shows while in
office.
Samak was born on June 13, 1935, and began his political career as a member of the Democrat Party in 1968 and was a Bangkok MP for the Democrat Party in 1975.
He established his own Thai Citizens Party in 1979. After taking several ministerial posts
in various ministries, Samak resigned to enter the Bangkok governorship election in 2000 and won a landslide victory.
The veteran politician was known for his sharp tongue and short temper. He was also a
celebrity cook, a newspaper columnist and owner and a Bangkok governor elected with the highest number of votes.