FW de Klerk, South Africa's last apartheid leader who freed Nelson Mandela, dies at 85

The last leader of apartheid South Africa, de Klerk shared the peace prize in 1993 with his successor Nelson Mandela, whom he released from prison.

De Klerk died at his home in Fresnaye from mesothelioma cancer, the foundation said Thursday.

A deeply conservative politician whose party had long supported apartheid, de Klerk ultimately became an unlikely agent of change in South Africa during his five-year rule of the country.

Recognizing the impending possibility of civil war, he surprised his political clan by freeing Mandela and legalizing the African National Congress. In 1993, de Klerk and other leaders ratified a new constitution that formally ended decades of racial segregation in South Africa.

De Klerk ultimately lost South Africa's first multiracial election to Mandela, before taking a post in the new government.

But after retiring from politics he made a number of conflicting comments about the era he helped bring to an end, and his legacy as a Nobel laureate at times proved controversial.

This is a developing story. More details soon.

The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.