His name was Carlo Barsotti, publisher of the newspaper Il Progresso Italo-Americano, and he was a combative figure.
In backing Hoey, Mills voiced fears about the dangers of a campaign dominated by the Ukip leader, Nigel Farage, and the need for a less combative figure.
Still, it is not clear whether Mr. Rangel, a proud and combative figure, will want to face the public spectacle of a trial.
The departure of Ms. Mucha, a brash and combative figure, raised the immediate question of how the administration would fill the void.
Grace Mugabe is a combative figure whose entry into politics, three years ago, will be studied by historians as the beginning of her husband's downfall.
Looked on as a combative figure while his predecessor Bertie Ahern was seen as one of nature's conciliators, Mr Cowen will certainly bring a difference in style if not in substance.
A competitive, combative figure in the right-wing mould of John Howard, a former long-serving Liberal prime minister, he was hardly considered a serious contender for his party's leadership.
An Israeli helicopter strike on Saturday night killed the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a combative figure who assumed the post less than a month ago after a similar Israeli attack that killed the group's founder, Sheik Ahmed Yassin.
A combative figure, Cummings strongly opposed the free school meals pledge from inside government last autumn, saying the idea had been put together "on the back of a fag packet" by Liberal Democrat spin doctors.
Mr. Rodríguez, the departing vice president, was often viewed as a combative figure whom Mr. Chávez brought in last year to oversee a wave of nationalizations in the drive toward a Socialist economy.
