Mieczyslaw Rakowski | Polish leader, 81

Mieczyslaw Rakowski, 81, Poland's last communist-era party chairman and prime minister, died Friday after a long battle with cancer.

A number of Polish officials, including former President Aleskander Kwasniewski, appeared on news stations to pay tribute to Mr. Rakowski and analyze his role in communist Poland's last years.

"Today is a very sad day," said Kwasniewski, a former communist who went on to serve two terms as president in democratic Poland. "He was a man of the left but also of Europe."

Mr. Rakowski, a historian and journalist, was chairman of the communist Polish United Workers' Party from July 1989 until the party was dissolved at its January 1990 congress during the country's bloodless transition to democracy. He then retired from public life.

He was also the country's last communist prime minister, serving from 1988-89.

- AP