F. W. de Klerk

Who they were

Frederik Willem de Klerk was a South African politician who served as the final state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as deputy president from 1994 to 1996. As South Africa's last head of state from the era of white-minority rule, he and his government dismantled the apartheid system and introduced universal suffrage. Ideologically a social conservative and an economic liberal, he led the National Party (NP) from 1989 to 1997.

Early life

Educated at: Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, North-West University, and Goodenough College.

Early life and education Childhood: 1936–1954 F. W. de Klerk was born on 18 March 1936, into a rich political family in Mayfair , a suburb of Johannesburg . [ 1 ] His parents were Johannes "Jan" de Klerk and Hendrina Cornelia Coetzer—"her forefather was a Kutzer who stems from Austria." [ 2 ] He was his parents' second son, having a brother, Willem de Klerk, who was eight years his senior. [ 1 ]

Path and career

Awards / honours: Nobel Peace Prize, Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize, Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation, and Philadelphia Liberty Medal.

Why this date

F. W. de Klerk appears on our November 11 calendar for 2021 as a death entry.