Maria Zheleva (original) (raw)

Maria Ivanova Marinova-Zheleva (Bulgarian: Мария Иванова Маринова-Желева, 3 April 1942 – 8 December 2013), sometimes transliterated as Mariya Zheleva or Mariya Jeleva, was a Bulgarian historian, film editor, film director, and screenwriter who served as the First Lady of Bulgaria from 1990 until 1997. Zheleva was the wife of Zhelyu Zhelev, the first non-Communist President of Bulgaria following the fall of communism in 1989. She remains the second longest serving first lady in Bulgaria's history.