Former Knesset member Gad Ya’akobi died Monday, Aug. 27. He was 72.

Ya’akobi was a Ma’arakh (now Labor) Knesset member in six consecutive coalitions and served posts as Israel’s transportation minister, economic and planning minister and communications minister.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called Ya’akobi a pragmatist, a son of the agricultural settlement and a person of vast intellect, a “rare combination, in political life.” — jps