About Malietoa Tanumafili II
Malietoa Tanumafili II (4 January 1913 – 11 May 2007) was a Samoan paramount chief and politician who was O le Ao o le Malo (head of state) of Samoa from its independence in 1962, and the Malietoa titleholder from 1940, until his death in 2007. In his earlier career, he worked as a civil servant and parliamentarian. When Western Samoa gained independence from New Zealand as a sovereign state in 1962, he became joint head of state with Tupua Tamasese Meaʻole, who died on 5 April 1963, after which he remained the office's sole occupant until his own death. In 1953, Malietoa was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. Upon Samoa's independence in 1962, Malietoa and Tupua Tamasese became O Ao o le Malo, the heads of state of Samoa jointly appointed under the constitution for a lifetime term.
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