predecessor successor death_date birth_place death_place children party birth_date order term_start spouse image article_title term_end name
aleksandras stulginskis jonas staugaitis 4 june 1950 selema , kazlų rūda municipality , lithuania chicago , illinois , usa liūtas -lrb- leo -rrb- grinius -lrb- died 1989 -rrb- lithuanian popular peasants ' union 17 december 1866 third president of lithuania 7 june 1926 1st : joana pavalkytė-griniuvienė , 2nd : kristina arsaitė-grinienė kazys grinius.jpg kazys grinius
 17 december 1926 kazys grinius
kazys grinius

kazys grinius -lrb- , 17 december 1866 in selema , kazlų rūda municipality4 june 1950 -rrb- was the third president of lithuania , and held that office from 7 june 1926 to 17 december 1926 .
when grinius was born in selema , near marijampolė , in the augustów governorate of congress poland , a part of the russian empire -lrb- present-day lithuania -rrb- .
he studied medicine at the university of moscow and became a physician .
as a young man , he became involved in lithuanian political activities , and was persecuted by the tsarist authorities .
in 1896 he was one of the founders of the social democratic party of lithuania -lrb- lsdp -rrb- .
that same year he married joana pavalkytė .
for some time they lived in virbalis .
in 1899 , their son kazys was born , and in 1902 , their daughter gražina was born .
during world war i they lived in kislovodsk .
in 1918 during a red army attack his wife and daughter were killed .
they were buried in kislovodsk cemetery .
when lithuania regained its independence in 1918 , grinius became a member of the national assembly as a member of the peasant populist party .
he served as prime minister from 1920 until 1922 , and signed a treaty with the soviet union .
he was elected president by the third seimas , but served for only six months , as he was deposed in a coup led by antanas smetona , under the pretext that there was an imminent communist plot to take over lithuania .
-lrb- smetona took the presidency after two others held the office for less than a day each . -rrb-
when nazi germany invaded lithuania in 1941 , grinius refused to collaborate with the germans because of his opposition to the occupation of lithuania by any foreign power .
he fled to the west , when the soviet army reoccupied lithuania in 1944 , and emigrated to the united states in 1947 .
he died in chicago , illinois , in 1950 .
after lithuania regained its independence in 1990 , his remains were returned and buried there .
