Key dates in the life of F.W. de Klerk

Key dates in the life of South Africa's last white president and Nobel Peace laureate, FW de Klerk, whose time in power marked the end of the racist apartheid regime.

- March 18, 1936: Frederik Willem de Klerk is born in Johannesburg into a family of Afrikaners, a white ethnic group descended mainly from Dutch colonisers. His father is a top senator who serves briefly as interim president.

- 1954-1958: Studies law at university; joins the Broederbond, a secret and ethnically exclusive Calvinist male Afrikaner organisation that wields huge influence in South Africa.

- 1959: Marries fellow student Marike Willemse, who will be a key ally in his political career and a politician in her own right. 

- 1972: Elected to parliament as a member of the National Party that promotes Afrikaner interests in South Africa.

- 1978-1989: Holds a succession of ministerial posts.

- 1989-1994: In office as South Africa's president.

- February 2, 1990: Legalises the banned African National Congress and orders the release of its iconic figurehead Nelson Mandela after 27 years in jail.  

- 1991: Ends the apartheid regime in place since 1948.

- 1993: He and Mandela jointly receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their roles in South Africa's "miracle" transition to democracy.

- September 9, 1997: Retires from active politics.

- 1998: Divorces Marike de Klerk and marries Elita Georgiades, the wife of a Greek shipping tycoon with whom he had been having an affair.

- 2000: Sets up the FW de Klerk Foundation to promote inter-community relations.

- December 4, 2001: Marike de Klerk is brutally murdered by a security guard at her home in Cape Town.

- February 2020: Sparks fury when he denies apartheid was a crime against humanity, retracting his comments days later.

- March 18, 2021: Announces he has cancer.

- November 11, 2021: He dies at his home.

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