The death of the eighty-one-year old President Tito on 4 May 1980, after a long illness, was not unexpected, yet there was a deep sense of shock and genuine grief amongst the majority of Yugoslavs when they heard the news. Most Yugoslavs had known no other leader than this remarkable man, who had been at the head of both state and party for over thirty-five years. The impressive array of world leaders who attended his funeral was both a tribute to Tito's status as a world statesman and recognition of Yugoslavia's importance in the international community of nations. Thirty-three heads of state and sixteen heads of government took part in the ceremony. They included President Brezhnev, Chairman Hua Guofeng, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, the Duke of Edinburgh and heads of state from Africa, Asia, eastern Europe and Scandinavia. The USA was represented by Vice-President Mondale and the president's mother; the absence of President Carter was made good a month later by a state visit undertaken immediately after the Venice summit meeting of western leaders.

The machinery for the succession worked smoothly, as the collective presidency had already been in effective operation for some months. Lazar Koliševski, the Macedonian who was in the chair at the time of Tito's death, acted as head of state until his one-year term expired on 15 May, and he was replaced in accordance with the predetermined rota by Cvijetin Mijatović, a Serb from Bosnia. Similarly, the leadership of the LCY passed on 4 May to Steven Doronjski, the representative of Vojvodina. On 20 October his turn came to make way for Lazar Mojsov of Macedonia. Since then the rotation of offices has followed the appointed course.