LJUBLJANA, Slovenia, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Former Slovenian President Janez Drnovsek, who helped build a healthy economy and a stable democracy, died Saturday of cancer at the age of 57.
Drnovsek, who died at his home near Ljubljana, had a cancerous kidney removed in 1999 and the cancer later spread to his lungs, the BBC reported.
Drnovsek, who helped lead his country to membership in the European Union and NATO, was prime minister from 1992 until 2002, when he was elected president. A trained economist, he was a banker when he was first elected to the Slovenian parliament in 1986.
His diagnosis of incurable cancer led him to become a champion for the environment, animal rights and the oppressed, the BBC said.
He chose not to run for a second five-year term last December and was succeeded by Danilo Tuerk.
