John Evans Atta-Mills

John Atta Mills
John Evans Atta Mills
President of Ghana (3rd President of the 4th Republic)
In office 7 January 2009 – 24 July 2012
Vice President	John Dramani Mahama
Preceded by	John Agyekum Kufuor
Succeeded by	John Dramani Mahama
Vice President of Ghana (2nd Vice-President of the 4th Republic)
In office 7 January 1997 – 7 January 2001
President	Jerry John Rawlings
Preceded by	Kow Nkensen Arkaah
Succeeded by	Aliu Mahama
Personal details
Born	John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills (1944-07-21)21 July 1944 Tarkwa, Gold Coast (now Ghana)
Died	24 July 2012(2012-07-24) (aged 68) Accra, Ghana
Resting place	Asomdwee Park, Accra, Ghana
Political party	National Democratic Congress
Spouse(s)	Ernestina Naadu Mills (née Botchway)
Children	Sam Kofi Atta Mills
Alma mater	Achimota School University of Ghana (LLB, 1967) London School of Economics (LLM, 1968) Law School of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (PhD, 1971)
Notable Awards	Glo-CAF Platinum Award Lifetime Africa Achievement Prize The Fritz Redlich Alumni Award
Occupation	Law Professor
Institution	University of Ghana
Field	Tax law
Positions	National Tax Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service (1988–1996)
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John Evans Fiifi Atta Mills (21 July 1944 – 24 July 2012) was a Ghanaian politician and legal scholar who served as President of Ghana from 2009 to 2012. He was inaugurated on 7 January 2009, having defeated the ruling party candidate Nana Akufo-Addo in the 2008 election. Previously he was Vice-President from 1997 to 2001 under President Jerry Rawlings, and he stood unsuccessfully in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections as the candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC). He is the first Ghanaian head of state to die in office.

Mills was born on 21 July 1944 in Tarkwa, in the Western Region of Ghana. A member of the Fante ethnic group, he hailed from the town of Ekumfi Otuam in the Mfantsiman East constituency of the Central Region of Ghana. He had his primary and middle school education at Huni Valley Methodist Primary School and Komenda Methodist Middle School respectively. He then proceeded to the prestigious Achimota School for his secondary education, where he completed the Ordinary and Advanced-Level Certificates in 1961 and 1963 respectively, and the University of Ghana, Legon, where he completed a bachelor of law degree, LLB and a professional law certificate in 1967.