South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu Dies Aged 90

South African Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, icon of the fight against apartheid and Nobel Peace Prize winner, died Sunday at the age of 90, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced. 

The president in a statement expressed "on behalf of all South Africans, his deep sadness following the death, this Sunday" of this essential figure in South African history.

Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 "for his role as a unifying leader figure in the non-violent campaign to resolve the problem of apartheid in South Africa."

Born on October 7, 1931 in Klerksdorp, South Africa, he became ordained as an Anglican priest in 1960.

In 1985, Tutu became Bishop of Johannesburg and in 1986 the Archbishop of Cape Town, the most senior position in southern Africa's Anglican hierarchy.

Nelson Mandela, leader of the coalition government that resulted from the 1994 general election, selected Tutu to chair the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate abuses during the apartheid era.