Vasily Bochkaryov

Vasily Kuzmich Bochkaryov (; 29 April 1949 – 22 June 2016) was a Russian politician. He served as Head of Zheleznodorozhny District of Penza from 1987 to 1998, and was elected Head of the Administration of Penza Oblast in April 1998. He became Governor of Penza Oblast in June 1998, and since then has been re-elected two times – in 2002 and 2005. He won his 2002 election by a small margin over his Communist challenger. Since 2015 until his death, Bochkaryov represented Penza Oblast in the Federation Council of Russia. Early life and education Vasily Bochkaryov was born on 29 April 1949 to a peasant family in the village of Iva, in Nizhnelomovsky District of Penza Oblast, Russian SSR. In 1968, Bochkaryov completed Alatyrsk Forest Industry Technical School, then he enrolled at Maxim Gorky Mari Polytechnic Institute and graduated as a forestry engineer in 1973. He later continued his studies and graduated from Penza State Technical University with a degree in State and Municipal Management in 1994, and from the Penza State Agricultural Academy with a degree in Economics and Agricultural Production Management in 1999. In 2002, he defended his Candidate of Sociological Sciences dissertation at Modern Humanitarian Institute, titled "The Level and Quality of Life as the Object of Control (Regional Aspect)". On 29 September 2013, the community Dissernet published the results of their examination of his thesis, which revealed extensive plagiarism from two other theses.