F.W. de Klerk, South Africa President who ended Apartheid, dies at 85
Frederik Willem de Klerk, who as president of South Africa dismantled the apartheid system that he and his ancestors had helped put in place, died at his home near Cape Town on Thursday. He was 85.
His death was confirmed by the F.W. de Klerk Foundation, which said in a statement that he had been receiving treatment for cancer.
A member of a prominent Afrikaner family, Mr. de Klerk had vehemently defended the separation of the races during his long climb up the political ladder.
But once he took over as president in 1989, he stunned his deeply divided nation, and the wider world, by reconsidering South Africa’s racist ways - a step that led to his sharing the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela, whom he had released from prison in 1990.
At: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/11/world/africa/fw-de-klerk-dead.html
Former South African President F.W. de Klerk with headlines proclaiming a resounding Yes vote in the March 17, 1992, referendum to end Apartheid.
Despite limited to white voters, the 69% Yes vote became a testament to de Klerk's efforts to end the oppressive system during his 1989-94 presidency - which was capped with the election of Nelson Mandela.
