NOBEL-WINNER

The Last President of Apartheid South Africa Has Died at 85

F.W. de Klerk ordered the release of Nelson Mandela, but his role in ending apartheid remains highly contested.

South Africa’s last white president, Frederik Willem de Klerk, has died at the age of 85. A statement from the former president’s foundation released Thursday said: “Former President FW de Klerk died peacefully at his home in Fresnaye (Cape Town) earlier this morning following his struggle against mesothelioma cancer.” De Klerk was head of state between September 1989 and May 1994 and is best remembered for announcing the release of anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela in 1990. Mandela’s African National Congress party went on to win power in the nation’s first non-racial elections in 1994, and de Klerk served as one of the two deputy presidents in Mandela’s first government. In 1993, de Klerk and Mandela were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work in ending apartheid—but his role is still highly contested. Last year, he had to apologize for “quibbling” over whether or not apartheid was a “crime against humanity.”