Leonor Beleza

Maria Leonor Couceiro Pizarro Beleza de Mendonça Tavares GCC (born 23 November 1948) is a Portuguese lawyer and politician.

Leonor Beleza GCC
Leonor Beleza in 2017
Member of the Council of State
Incumbent
Assumed office 25 June 2008
President	Aníbal Cavaco Silva Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
Preceded by	Manuela Ferreira Leite
Minister of Health
In office 6 November 1985 – 5 January 1990
Prime Minister	Aníbal Cavaco Silva
Preceded by	António Maldonado Gonelha
Succeeded by	Arlindo de Carvalho
Secretary of State for Social Security
In office 18 June 1983 – 6 November 1985
Prime Minister	Mário Soares
Preceded by	António Bagão Félix
Succeeded by	José Pinto Sancho
Secretary of State for the Presidency of the Council of Ministers
In office 12 June 1982 – 9 June 1983
Prime Minister	Francisco Pinto Balsemão
Preceded by	Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa
Succeeded by	Alfredo Barroso
Member of the Assembly of the Republic
In office 5 April 2002 – 9 March 2005
Constituency	Portalegre
In office 13 August 1987 – 26 October 1995
Constituency	Porto (1987–1991) Lisbon (1991–1995)
In office 31 May 1983 – 3 November 1985
Constituency	Lisbon
President of the Champalimaud Foundation
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 December 2004
Preceded by	Position established
Personal details
Born	Maria Leonor Couceiro Pizarro Beleza (1948-11-23) 23 November 1948 Porto, Portugal
Political party	Social Democratic Party (since 1974)
Other political affiliations	SEDES (since 1970)
Spouse	Diogo de Mendonça Tavares
Children	2
Relatives	Teresa Pizarro Beleza (sister) Miguel Beleza (brother)
Alma mater	University of Lisbon
Occupation	Lawyer • Politician

Career

She is daughter of José Júlio Pizarro Beleza and Maria dos Prazeres Lançarote Couceiro da Costa. Her brother is former Minister of Finance Miguel Beleza.

Member of the Social Democratic Party, she served twice as Minister of Health in the Portuguese government. She is the 1st President of the Champalimaud Foundation.

Leonor Beleza is a graduate of the University of Lisbon Law School, where she has also worked as an assistant professor. During a distinguished professional career she has held a number of high-profile public offices. Among other positions, she was Secretary of State of the Presidency of the Cabinet (1982–1983), Secretary of State for Social Security (1983–1985), and Minister of Health (1985–1990) in the Portuguese Government. She has been elected as a Member of Parliament on several occasions and on two occasions she has served as Vice President of the Assembly of the Republic (1991–1994, 2002–2005). In addition to her prominent role in public affairs Mrs Beleza has also played an active role in the private sector.

Leonor Beleza is currently the Chairman of the Portuguese League for People with Physical Disabilities, chairman of the advisory board of the D. Pedro IV Foundation, and a member of the General Councils of the CEBI Foundation and of the Gil Foundation. She is also a vigorous campaigner for women's rights, a cause she has supported for many years. In 2004, Leonor Beleza was appointed Chairman of the Champalimaud Foundation by the will of António Champalimaud. Leonor Beleza headed the Banco Totta & Açores Supervisory Board (1995–1998) and member of the BCP's (Banco Comercial Português) General Council and Supervisory Board (2011–2013).

Marriage and issue

She married Diogo de Mendonça Rodrigues Tavares and had two children:

• Mariana da Conceição Beleza de Mendonça Tavares (born Lisbon, 4 December 1975); by Bernardo Maria Correia Mendes Pinheiro Torres (born Lisbon, 29 February 1976) she had one daughter Maria Beatriz Beleza Tavares Pinheiro Torres (born Lisbon, 13 October 1999)
• Miguel Couceiro Beleza de Mendonça Tavares (born 8 March 1979)

AIDS scandal

In 2001, a Portuguese court indicted Beleza propagating a contagious disease during her time as Health Minister during the 1980s. More than 100 Portuguese haemophiliacs had become infected with the AIDS virus after receiving transfusions of contaminated plasma that had been imported and distributed by the public health service, part of the larger worldwide contaminated haemophilia blood products scandal.

Honours

Portuguese National Honours

• Grand-Cross of the Order of Christ, Portugal (9 June 2005)

Foreign Honours

• Grand-Cross of the Order of the Falcon, Iceland (25 February 1994)