Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev | Profession: Politician, statesman; last leader of the Soviet Union (General Secretary and later President) | Nationality: Soviet (later Russian) | Born: March 2, 1931 | Birthplace: Privolnoye, Stavropol region, Russian SFSR, USSR | Generation: Silent Generation | Chinese Zodiac: Goat | Zodiac Sign: Pisces | Age in 2026: 95 | Marital Status: Widower (married Raisa Gorbacheva, 1953–1999) | Children: 1 (daughter: Irina Virganskaya) | Description: Gorbachev became one of the pivotal political figures of the late 20th century by attempting to reform the Soviet system from within, introducing openness and restructuring policies that accelerated public debate, loosened censorship, and reshaped governance at a historic scale; his leadership coincided with the end of the Cold War’s most rigid phase and the rapid transformation of Eastern Europe, and his domestic reforms—while intended to modernize and stabilize—also contributed to forces that culminated in the dissolution of the USSR, making him simultaneously praised abroad and contested at home; remembered as a paradoxical reformer who tried to humanize a superpower in crisis, he spent his post-presidency years as a public intellectual and foundation figure; Cause of Death: died in Moscow after a serious and long illness (no more specific official cause was widely confirmed at the time).