Eemil Nestor Setälä

Eemil Nestor Setälä [ˈe̞ːmil ˈne̞s̠t̪or ˈs̠e̞t̪ælæ], (27 February 1864 in Kokemäki – 8 February 1935 in Helsinki) was a Finnish politician and once the Chairman of the Senate of Finland, from September 1917 to November 1917, when he was author of the Finnish Declaration of Independence.

Valtioneuvos Eemil Nestor Setälä
Chairman of the Senate of Finland
In office September 8, 1917 – November 27, 1917
Preceded by	Oskari Tokoi
Succeeded by	Pehr Evind Svinhufvud
Personal details
Born	February 27, 1864 Kokemäki, Finland
Died	February 8, 1935 (aged 70) Helsinki, Finland
Nationality	Finnish
Political party	National Coalition Party

Setälä was a linguist, professor of Finnish language and literature at Helsinki University from 1893 to 1929. He was a major influence on the study of Finnish language, and the founder of the research institute Suomen suku ("The Family of the Finnish Language").

Life

Back row from left Ilmari Krohn, Kaarle, Helmi with E.N. Setälä; in front Aune, Helena née Cleve and Aino

Setälä was born in 1864. In 1892 he married the writer and editor, Helmi Krohn, and she took the name Setälä which she used until they divorced in 1913. A divorce was unusual at this time in Finland.[1]

Architect and writer Salme Setälä was their daughter.[2]

His political activities led him to be elected several times to the parliament, for the Young Finnish Party and for the National Coalition Party. For a brief period at the end of World War I, he served as acting head of state as the Chairman of the Senate. Later Setälä held cabinet posts as of the minister of education (1925) and the Foreign Minister (1925-1926).[3]

He was the Envoy of Finland to Denmark and Hungary from 1927 to 1930.

From 1926 to 1935 he was Chancellor of the University of Turku.[4]

He is buried in the Hietaniemi Cemetery in Helsinki.[5]

References

1. John Goodwin (25 June 2012). SAGE Biographical Research. SAGE Publications. pp. 69–77. ISBN 978-1-4462-7592-4.
2. "Salme Setälä". Kirjasampo (in Finnish). Retrieved 11 November 2017.
3. "Ministerikortisto". Valtioneuvosto (Finnish Government). Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2011-05-28.
4. "Chancellors of the University of Turku". University of Turku. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
5. "Hietaniemen hautausmaa – merkittäviä vainajia" (PDF). Helsingin seurakuntayhtymä. Retrieved 27 August 2016.

External links

• E.N. Setälä in 375 humanists 21.02.2015, Faculty of Arts, University of Helsinki