Mikhail Gorbachev

He tied the nuptial knot in 1953 with fellow student Raisa Titarenko, whom he met at Moscow State University. Four years later, the couple was blessed with a daughter.

Mikhail Gorbachev was born to Sergey Andreyevich Gorbachev and Maria Panteleyevna Gorbacheva. While his father was a combine harvester and World War II veteran, his mother was employed as a kolkhoz worker.

Since a young age, he had an aptitude for learning and trained himself very well at operating machines. He started contributing to the house income and by 1948, became the youngest ever to win the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for his active role in bringing in that year’s bumper crop.

He graduated from high school with a silver medal. In 1950, he enrolled at the Moscow University and graduated from the same in 1955 with a degree in law.

In 1967, he secured a correspondence master’s degree from the Stavropol Institute of Agriculture, after which he became a qualified agricultural economist.

He was involved in politics since young, being a Communist party member while still in high school. However, he was officially recognized and granted full membership only in 1952.

His reputation as a hardworking and dedicated activist worked for him as he was soon promoted up the ranks, becoming Head of the Department of Party Organs in the Stavropol Agricultural Kraikom in 1963.

By 1970, he became First Party Secretary of the Stavropol Kraikom, thus becoming the youngest provincial party chiefs in the nation. Working in this capacity, he improved the basic living standard of the workers and helped them reorganize collective farms. He even assisted them in expanding private plots.

Once simply a member of the Communist Party Central Committee, he rose up the ranks to become the Central Committee's Secretary for Agriculture in 1978. A year later, he was appointed to the Politburo and received full membership in 1980.

During Yuri Andropov’s term as the General Secretary, his visibility increased by miles as he was counted as one of the most active members. His travels abroad shaped his political and social view.

For his outstanding leadership skills and remarkable contributions to the overall betterment of world development, he was conferred with the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize on October 15, 1990.

In his lifetime, he has received various national and foreign decorations including Russia’s highest state decoration Order of St. Andrew, Order of the Badge of Honour, Order of Lenin, Order of Honour, Order of October Revolution, and so on.

Various universities across the globe have felicitated him with honorary doctorate degree. Furthermore, he also received the Indira Gandhi Prize (India) and Ronald Reagan Freedom Award (US).