[3] His mother, Olga, moved to Constanța, where she had to work as a cook at a hospital to support her children, two of whom would die due to illness.

[3][4] From age 12, Ciobanu held a variety of jobs: he worked as a longshoreman, farmer, tractor driver, miner, digger, carpenter, sailor, and fisherman.

He distinguished himself as a volunteer at the building of the Bumbești–Livezeni railroad; as a dump truck driver, he transported stone from Ovidiu for the construction of the Danube–Black Sea Canal.

In 1972, he married Marion; the two adopted Natalia Doina, the daughter from his wife's first marriage, and in 1978 their son Ioachim was born.

[3][4] He died in Bucharest at age 76 of laryngeal cancer; according to his wishes, his remains were cremated[5] and his ashes were thrown into the Black Sea.