Pardede grew up with six sisters: Sariaty, Emmy, Anny, Mery, Reny, Indriany and two brothers: Hisar and Johnny.

Upon completing his primary education at the Nasrani Elementary School in Medan in 1954, Pardede moved to Tanjungpinang in Riau.

The club assembled together Indonesia football stars such as Sucipto, Jakop Sihasale, Iswadi Idris, Kadir, and Yuswardi.

[8] After the fall of Suharto, members of PDI who supported Megawati Sukarnoputri—including Pardede—broke away and formed the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP).

[4] In 2003, Pardede became the running mate of Tengku Rizal Nurdin, who was seeking to be re-elected as the Governor of North Sumatra.

In the first round, the pair obtained 39 out of 85 votes from the North Sumatra Regional People's Representative Council.

As Nurdin's deputy, Pardede was named by the Minister of Home Affairs as the acting governor of North Sumatra on the same day.

[16] Later that year, around a thousand protesters from thirty-four different organizations rallied in front of the North Sumatra's Regional Representative Council office, demanding the resignation of Pardede for forging his high school diploma.

[21][22] Resistance against Pardede's administration grew larger as he implemented controversial policies, such as the increase of water bill, appointment of civil servants which violated the general guidelines, and the distribution of stationery to school by Pardede's wife based on religious and ethnic lines.

However, Pardede's diploma controversy discouraged PDIP from endorsing him, and the party supported former North Sumatra military commander Tritamtomo as their gubernatorial candidate.

[3] After his failure to run as a governor, Pardede ran as a senator for North Sumatra in the 2009 Indonesian legislative election.

[8] His oldest child, Yohana Pardede, became the chairman of Gerindra in the 2010s, but died under mysterious circumstances in September 2013.

[31] His third child, Salomo Pardede, was elected as a member of North Sumatra Regional People's Representative Council and was arrested in 2020 for corruption charges.

[4][5] Pardede made his first public report on his wealth on 18 April 2001, while he was a member of the People's Consultative Assembly.

Public officials, such as defense minister Prabowo Subianto, governor of North Sumatra Edy Rahmayadi, and mayor of Medan Bobby Nasution, paid their final respects to Pardede.

A traditional Bataknese mourning ceremony would be held on 1 July before his funeral at the family cemetery in Deli Serdang.