Frederik Willem de Klerk

Frederik Willem de Klerk (born March 18, 1936) was the last State President of South Africa, serving from September 1989 to May 1994. The last white man to lead the country, he was president at the end of apartheid. De Klerk was also leader of the National Party (which later became the New National Party) from February 1989 to September 1997.

Later life

Conservative South African opinion was scandalised by his messy divorce (October 1998) from his wife Marike and prompt re-marriage to Elita Georgiades, but the whole country was shocked by the death (December 2001) of his ex-wife of 38 years, apparently at the hands of a young security guard during the course of a robbery.

Related Topics:
Divorce - 1998 - 2001

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In 2004, de Klerk announced that he was quitting the New National Party and seeking a new political home after it was announced that the NNP would merge with the ruling ANC.

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The name 'de Klerk' is derived from Le Clerc / De Clercq and is of French Huguenot origin, as are a great number of other Afrikaans surnames, reflecting the large number of French Huguenot refugees who settled in the Cape beginning in the seventeenth century.

Related Topics:
Huguenot - Afrikaans

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External Links

The FW de Klerk Foundation

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Interview with FW De Klerk, 2005

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