Viorel Păunescu

Viorel Păunescu was born on 11 July 1935 in Fărcășești, a commune in Gorj County in south western Romania. He had two brothers, George Constantin Păunescu and Valentin Păunescu, who later became his partners in the family's business group.

He played field handball, the eleven-a-side outdoor form of the sport, at the top level between 1955 and 1964. He began at Locomotiva Gara de Nord in Bucharest, then played for the army club CSA Steaua București and for CS Dinamo București, and was a member of the Romanian national team in eleven-a-side handball.

Păunescu worked for most of his life in tourism and the hotel trade. Money.ro, profiling him in 2009, described him as a businessman who had prospered in tourism since the communist era, when his name was linked with the Melody bar in Mamaia, the best known night bar on the Romanian coast at the time. The Păunescu family's businesses were organised as one group rather than as separate ventures: George was the strategist, Viorel administered the tourism assets and Valentin, who had died by the time of the 2009 profile, managed the media interests.

For 13 years, until the end of 2006, Păunescu was chairman of the board of Star Lido 3 and of Compania Hotelieră Intercontinental România, owner of the Intercontinental hotel in Bucharest. He was also involved in running the Rex hotel in Mamaia and the Teleferic hotel in Poiana Brașov. In 2007 the business magazine Capital reported that he had sold the Rex and Teleferic hotels and part of his stake in the Intercontinental, while saying he did not intend to leave tourism.

In 1998 he became president of the board of directors of Steaua București's football club. He took the team over from the Ministry of National Defence and founded the non-profit association AFC Steaua to run it. Speaking in 2010, he said that in the years from 1998 to 2005 the team had won two championships, the Romanian Cup and the Romanian Supercup, and in 2023 he singled out the title won with Victor Pițurcă as coach. In 2003 Steaua's place in the first division passed to a commercial company headed by Gigi Becali. In a 2016 interview with ProSport he rejected accusations that he had helped take the club away from the army, saying he had accepted the post at the urging of Cristian Gațu and other members of the club.

In November 2005 he was elected president of the Romanian Swimming and Modern Pentathlon Federation. He served until November 2013, when the Olympic medallist Camelia Potec succeeded him, and he was elected honorary president of the federation at the same meeting.

Păunescu worked alongside his brothers George and Valentin for most of his career; after Valentin's death, George's sons Bobby and Răzvan took over the running of the family businesses, according to Money.ro. Reflecting on his life in 2010, he told Jurnalul Național: "All my life has been work without a break, out of the wish to get the very best out of tourism." He added that if he were born again he would want it to be in Romania and would do everything the same, sport and tourism, though he would be "less trusting, less sentimental." In his later years he was visited regularly by Victor Pițurcă, the coach of his Steaua team.

Viorel Păunescu died on the morning of Saturday 24 October 2026 in Bucharest, aged 91. He had been admitted to Colentina Hospital in the days before his death. No exact cause was given, but ProSport, Digi Sport and other outlets reported that he had lived for some time with Alzheimer's disease and had undergone surgery for several hernias in recent years. He had largely withdrawn from public life.

His death was confirmed by AS47 and first reported by Gazeta Sporturilor, and was covered the same day by ProSport, Digi Sport, Mediafax and Libertatea. Funeral arrangements had not been announced in the first reports.

Păunescu's five years in charge of Steaua sit at the centre of the long dispute over the club's identity. In later years the High Court of Cassation and Justice ruled that the record from 1947 to 1998 belongs to the army club CSA Steaua, and, according to Libertatea, that the 1998 to 2003 period of his leadership belongs by right neither to CSA Steaua nor to FCSB. He remained respected by many supporters, saying in 2023 that fans still called him. In tourism he was one of the best known hotel managers of his generation, and in sport he led Romanian swimming and modern pentathlon for eight years.