MK Yuri Stern (Yisrael Beiteinu) succumbed to cancer Tuesday morning and died at the age of 58. He was laid to rest in the late afternoon in the Givat Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem.

Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik said "the terrible news of his death hit all of us. Stern symbolized to me the Zionist immigrant who was absorbed effectively and became a partner in Israel's parliamentary achievements."

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert paid tribute to Stern as a "man of culture and letters with a deep awareness of Israel's heritage and of Jewish tradition."

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"His uncompromising political views were alongside his extraordinary cultural and social sensitivity," Olmert said. "Yuri fought his illness bravely and even though he knew his days were numbered, he never ceased fighting."

Stern was born in Moscow and immigrated to Israel in 1981. In 1996 he was first elected to represent the new immigrant party Yisrael b'Aliyah in the Knesset. Before the 1999 elections he left Yisrael b'Aliyah and joined Yisrael Beiteinu along with MK Michael Nudelman.

In the last Knesset he served as the chairman of the Knesset State Control Committee. Before that he chaired the Knesset Interior and Environment Committee. Between the years 2001 and 2002 he served as a deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Office.

In the last two months Stern minimized his parliamentary activities due to his illness. Some two weeks ago he addressed his colleagues during a plenary meeting for the last time.

Prior to Stern's arrival in Israel, he was active in promoting aliyah in the Soviet Union. He was active in various aliyah organizations as well as a member of the Zionist Forum for Soviet Jewry.

Stern is survived by his wife and two children.

The Mesorati movement of Conservative Judaism in Israel said Tuesday that the passing of Stern, a founder of the Shevet Ahim congregation in the Gilo neighborhood of Jerusalem, was a great loss to the Jewish people.

Attorney David Rotem, a former advisor to the Yesha Council of Settlements, is slated to take Stern's place in the Knesset.