Vasil Tsereteli

Vasil Tsereteli (1936)

Vasil Tsereteli (Georgian: ვასილ წერეთელი) (1862–1937) was a distinguished Georgian physician, journalist, politician and public benefactor. He was born in a village Tskhrukveti (Chiatura district of Imereti region in Western Georgia), in the family of Prince Giorgi Tsereteli. His brother was Professor Mikheil Tsereteli, a famous Georgian historian and public benefactor. His son Giorgi Tsereteli was a distinguished orientalist, Academician of the Georgian Academy of Sciences, his daughter Tinatin Tsereteli was also a famous scientist (jurist), a Corresponding Member of the Georgian Academy of Sciences.

In 1882 Tsereteli graduated from the Classical Gymnasium in Kutaisi, in 1898 from the Medical Faculty of the Kiev University (Ukraine). Before the 1926 he worked as doctor in Chiatura, Tianeti, and Kutaisi. In Kutaisi he taught hygiene in a Georgian Gymnasium. In 1898 he established the Clinic in Chiatura.

Since 1888 he was an active collaborator and author of the main Georgian newspaper "Iveria" of Ilia Chavchavadze. In 1910s Tsereteli edited the Georgian newspapers of national-democratic direction "Samshoblo" and "Chveni Qvekana". In 1887-1893 he was editor of the Russian newspaper "Chernomorski Vestnik" in Batumi.

In 1904-1916 Tsereteli was a Member of the Georgian Social-Federalist Party. In 1917 he was one of the founders of the Georgian National-Democratic Party. In 1917-1919 Tsereteli was a Member of the "National Council of Georgia", in 1919-1921 a Member of the Constituent Assembly of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG). On May 26, 1918 he signed the "Act of Independence of Georgia".

Since 1926 Tsereteli lived in Tbilisi. In 1926-1930 he was an Editor-in-Chief of the Georgian medical Journal "Jansakhkomis Moambe".

Tsereteli died in 1937, in Tbilisi.

References