Nelson Mandela dies at 95 - CNN.com In a nation healing from the scars of apartheid, Nelson Mandela became the moral compass With bouts of illness, the anti-apartheid icon faded from the limelight in recent years Mandela spent 27 years in prison; 18 of them were on Robben Island Freedom fighter, prisoner, moral compass and South Africa's symbol of the struggle against racial oppression. That was Nelson Mandela, who emerged from prison after 27 years to lead his country out of decades of apartheid. He died Thursday night at age 95. His message of reconciliation, not vengeance, inspired the world after he negotiated a peaceful end to segregation and urged forgiveness for the white government that imprisoned him. "As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn't leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I'd still be in prison," Mandela said after he was freed in 1990. Mandela, a former president, battled health issues in recent years, including a recurring lung infection that led to numerous hospitalizations. Despite rare public appearances, he held a special place in the consciousness of the nation and the world. "Our nation has lost its greatest son.

Our people have lost a father," South African President Jacob Zuma said. "What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves." His U.S. counterpart, Barack Obama, echoed the same sentiment. "We've lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this Earth," Obama said. "He no longer belongs to us -- he belongs to the ages." A hero to blacks and whites Mandela became the nation's conscience as it healed from the scars of apartheid. His defiance of white minority rule and long incarceration for fighting against segregation focused the world's attention on apartheid, the legalized racial segregation enforced by the South African government until 1994. JUST WATCHED MUST WATCH 1994: Mandela takes oath of office 02:06 In his lifetime, he was a man of complexities. He went from a militant freedom fighter, to a prisoner, to a unifying figure, to an elder statesman. Years after his 1999 retirement from the presidency, Mandela was considered the ideal head of state. He became a yardstick for African leaders, who consistently fell short when measured against him.

Warm, lanky and charismatic in his silk, earth-toned dashikis, he was quick to admit to his shortcomings, endearing him further in a culture in which leaders rarely do. His steely gaze disarmed opponents. So did his flashy smile. Former South African President F.W. de Klerk, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with Mandela in 1993 for transitioning the nation from a system of racial segregation, described their first meeting. "I had read, of course, everything I could read about him beforehand. I was well-briefed," he said. "I was impressed, however, by how tall he was. By the ramrod straightness of his stature, and realized that this is a very special man. He had an aura around him. He's truly a very dignified and a very admirable person." For many South Africans, he was simply Madiba, his traditional clan name. Others affectionately called him Tata, the word for father in his Xhosa tribe. A nation on edge Mandela last appeared in public during the 2010 World Cup hosted by South Africa.

His absences from the limelight and frequent hospitalizations left the nation on edge, prompting Zuma to reassure citizens every time he fell sick. "Mandela is woven into the fabric of the country and the world," said Ayo Johnson, director of Viewpoint Africa, which sells content about the continent to media outlets. When he was around, South Africans had faith that their leaders would live up to the nation's ideals, according to Johnson. "He was a father figure, elder statesman and global ambassador," Johnson said. "He was the guarantee, almost like an insurance policy, that South Africa's young democracy and its leaders will pursue the nation's best interests." There are telling nuggets of Mandela's character in the many autobiographies about him. An unmovable stubbornness. A quick, easy smile. An even quicker frown when accosted with a discussion he wanted no part of. War averted Despite chronic political violence before the vote that put him in office in 1994, South Africa avoided a full-fledged civil war in its transition from apartheid to multiparty democracy. The peace was due in large part to the leadership and vision of Mandela and de Klerk.

"We were expected by the world to self-destruct in the bloodiest civil war along racial grounds," Mandela said during a 2004 celebration to mark a decade of democracy in South Africa. "Not only did we avert such racial conflagration, we created amongst ourselves one of the most exemplary and progressive nonracial and nonsexist democratic orders in the contemporary world." Mandela represented a new breed of African liberation leaders, breaking from others of his era such as Robert Mugabe by serving one term. In neighboring Zimbabwe, Mugabe has been president since 1987. A lot of African leaders overstayed their welcomes and remained in office for years, sometimes decades, making Mandela an anomaly. But he was not always popular in world capitals. Until 2008, the United States had placed him and other members of the African National Congress on its terror list because of their militant fight against the apartheid regime. Humble beginnings Rolihlahla Mandela started his journey in the tiny village of Mvezo, in the hills of the Eastern Cape, where he was born on July 18, 1918. His teacher later named him Nelson as part of a custom to give all schoolchildren Christian names.

His father died when he was 9, and the local tribal chief took him in and educated him. Mandela attended school in rural Qunu, where he retreated before returning to Johannesburg to be near medical facilities. He briefly attended University College of Fort Hare but was expelled after taking part in a protest with Oliver Tambo, with whom he later operated the nation's first black law firm. In subsequent years, he completed a bachelor's degree through correspondence courses and studied law at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He left without graduating in 1948. Four years before he left the university, he helped form the youth league of the African National Congress, hoping to transform the organization into a more radical movement. He was dissatisfied with the ANC and its old-guard politics. And so began Mandela's civil disobedience and lifelong commitment to breaking the shackles of segregation in South Africa. Escalating trouble In 1956, Mandela and dozens of other political activists were charged with high treason for activities against the government. His trial lasted five years, but he was ultimately acquitted. Meanwhile, the fight for equality got bloodier.

Four years after his treason charges, police shot 69 unarmed black protesters in Sharpeville township as they demonstrated outside a station. The Sharpeville Massacre was condemned worldwide, and it spurred Mandela to take a more militant tone in the fight against apartheid. The South African government outlawed the ANC after the massacre, and an angry Mandela went underground to form a new military wing of the organization. "There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile for us to continue talking peace and nonviolence against a government whose reply is only savage attacks on an unarmed and defenseless people," Mandela said during his time on the run. During that period, he left South Africa and secretly traveled under a fake name. The press nicknamed him "the Black Pimpernel" because of his police evasion tactics. Militant resistance The African National Congress heeded calls for stronger action against the apartheid regime, and Mandela helped launch an armed wing to attack government symbols, including post offices and offices. The armed struggle was a defense mechanism against government violence, he said.

"My people, Africans, are turning to deliberate acts of violence and of force against the government in order to persuade the government, in the only language which this government shows by its own behavior that it understands," Mandela said at the time. "If there is no dawning of sanity on the part of the government -- ultimately, the dispute between the government and my people will finish up by being settled in violence and by force. " The campaign of violence against the state resulted in civilian casualties. A white South African's memories of Mandela Long imprisonment In 1962, Mandela secretly received military training in Morocco and Ethiopia. When he returned home later that year, he was arrested and charged with illegal exit of the country and incitement to strike. Mandela represented himself at the trial and was briefly imprisoned before being returned to court. In 1964, after the famous Rivonia trial, he was sentenced to life in prison for sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government. At the trial, instead of testifying, he opted to give a speech that was more than four hours long, and ended with a defiant statement. "I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination," he said.

"I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." His next stop was the Robben Island prison, where he spent 18 of his 27 years in detention. He described his early days there as harsh. "There was a lot of physical abuse, and many of my colleagues went through that humiliation," he said. One of those colleagues was Khehla Shubane, 57, who was imprisoned in Robben Island during Mandela's last years there. Though they were in different sections of the prison, he said, Mandela was a towering figure. "He demanded better rights for us all in prison. The right to get more letters, get newspapers, listen to the radio, better food, right to study," Shubane said. "It may not sound like much to the outside world, but when you are in prison, that's all you have." And Mandela's khaki prison pants, he said, were always crisp and ironed.

"Most of us chaps were lazy, we would hang our clothes out to dry and wear them with creases. We were in a prison, we didn't care. But Mandela, every time I saw him, he looked sharp." After 18 years, he was transferred to other prisons, where he experienced better conditions until he was freed in 1990. Months before his release, he obtained a bachelor's in law in absentia from the University of South Africa. Mandela's jail: Robben Island Calls for release His freedom followed years of an international outcry led by Winnie Mandela, a social worker whom he married in 1958, three months after divorcing his first wife. Mandela was banned from reading newspapers, but his wife provided a link to the outside world. She told him of the growing calls for his release and updated him on the fight against apartheid. World pressure mounted to free Mandela with the imposition of political, economic and sporting sanctions, and the white minority government became more isolated. In 1988 at age 70, Mandela was hospitalized with tuberculosis, a disease whose effects plagued him until the day he died.

He recovered and was sent to a minimum security prison farm, where he was given his own quarters and could receive additional visitors. Among them, in an unprecedented meeting, was South Africa's president, P.W. Botha. Change was in the air. When Botha's successor, de Klerk, took over, he pledged to negotiate an end to apartheid. South Africa: Following Nelson Mandela Free at last On February 11, 1990, Mandela walked out of prison to thunderous applause, his clenched right fist raised above his head. Still as upright and proud, he would say, as the day he walked into prison nearly three decades earlier. He reassured ANC supporters that his release was not part of a government deal and informed whites that he intended to work toward reconciliation. Four years after his release, in South Africa's first multiracial elections, he became the nation's first black president. "The day he was inducted as president, we stood on the terraces of the Union Building," de Klerk remembered years later. "He took my hand and lifted it up.

He put his arm around me, and we showed a unity that resounded through South Africa and the world." Mandela: Patriarch, legend, family man Broken marriage, then love His union to Winnie Mandela, however, did not have such a happy ending. They officially divorced in 1996. For the two, it was a fiery love story, derailed by his ambition to end apartheid. During his time in prison, Mandela wrote his wife long letters, expressing his guilt at putting political activism before family. Before the separation, Winnie Mandela was implicated in violence, including a conviction for being an accessory to assault in the death of a teenage township activist. Mandela found love again two years after the divorce. On his 80th birthday, he married Graca Machel, the widow of former Mozambique president, Samora Machel. Only three of Mandela's children are still alive. He had 18 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Symbolic rugby South Africa's fight for reconciliation was epitomized at the 1995 rugby World Cup Fina l in Johannesburg, when it played heavily favored New Zealand.

As the dominant sport of white Afrikaners, rugby was reviled by blacks in South Africa. They often cheered for rivals playing their national team. Mandela's deft use of the national team to heal South Africa was captured in director Clint Eastwood's 2009 feature film "Invictus," starring Morgan Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar, the white South African captain of the rugby team. Before the real-life game, Mandela walked onto the pitch, wearing a green-and-gold South African jersey bearing Pienaar's number on the back. "I will never forget the goosebumps that stood on my arms when he walked out onto the pitch before the game started," said Rory Steyn, his bodyguard for most of his presidency. "That crowd, which was almost exclusively white ... started to chant his name. That one act of putting on a No. 6 jersey did more than any other statement in bringing white South Africans and Afrikaners on side with new South Africa." Share your memories A promise honored In 1999, Mandela did not seek a second term as president, keeping his promise to serve only one term. Thabo Mbeki succeeded him in June of the same year.

After leaving the presidency, he retired from active politics, but remained in the public eye, championing causes such as human rights, world peace and the fight against AIDS. It was a decision born of tragedy: His only surviving son, Makgatho Mandela, died of AIDS at age 55 in 2005. Another son, Madiba Thembekile, was killed in a car crash in 1969. Mandela's 90th birthday party in London's Hyde Park was dedicated to HIV awareness and prevention, and was titled 46664, his prison number on Robben Island. A resounding voice Mandela continued to be a voice for developing nations. He criticized U.S. President George W. Bush for launching the 2003 war against Iraq, and accused the United States of "wanting to plunge the world into a Holocaust." And as he was acclaimed as the force behind ending apartheid, he made it clear he was only one of many who helped transform South Africa into a democracy. In 2004, a few weeks before he turned 86, he announced his retirement from public life to spend more time with his loved ones.

"Don't call me, I'll call you," he said as he stepped away from his hectic schedule. 'Like a boy of 15' But there was a big treat in store for the avid sportsman. When South Africa was awarded the 2010 football World Cup, Mandela said he felt "like a boy of 15." In July that year, Mandela beamed and waved at fans during the final of the tournament in Johannesburg's Soccer City. It was his last public appearance. "I would like to be remembered not as anyone unique or special, but as part of a great team in this country that has struggled for many years, for decades and even centuries," he said. "The greatest glory of living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time you fall." With him gone, South Africans are left to embody his promise and idealism. Nelson Mandela dies | News | National | M&G Nelson Mandela dies Former president Nelson Mandela. (AFP) Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the father of the nation, died on December 5 2013 at the age of 95. President Jacob Zuma made the announcement from the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Thursday night.

He said Mandela passed away at 8.50pm at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg, surrounded by his wife, Graça Machel and members of his family. Zuma said Mandela would have a state funeral and that flags would fly half-mast from December 6 until after the funeral. Zuma called on South Africans to "recall the values for which Madiba fought". Long illness Mandela was hospitalised on June 8 with a recurring lung infection. Initial reports from the Presidency suggested Mandela was stable, although his condition was serious. But on June 23, the Presidency announced that Mandela's condition had deteriorated and he was critical. Court affidavits soon confirmed that the former statesman was on an assisted-breathing, life support machine. More reports emerged about Mandela in the days that followed—that he was in a " permanent vegetative state "—although the presidency denied these, maintaining that he was "critical yet stable". On his 95th birthday, July 18, Zuma announced an improvement in Mandela's health. Mandela was discharged from hospital in September and transported to his home in Houghton. In November, his family said he remained "quite ill" , but his pneumonia had cleared up.

Zuma visited Mandela on November 18 and said he was still in a critical condition, but that he continued to respond to treatment. On December 3, his daughter, Makaziwe Mandela, said the former president was "strong" and "courageous", although he was "on his death bed". Mandela's grandson, Ndaba Mandela, said his grandfather was "not doing well", although, "he is still with us". His declining health has been the subject of speculation over the past few years. He was diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer in 2001 but made a full recovery. In 2011, he was admitted to hospital following a severe respiratory infection and a year later underwent a scheduled surgery for a longstanding abdominal complaint. Mandela was plagued by recurring lung ailments in recent years. He spent 18 days in hospital at the end of 2012 and, despite receiving home-based high care thereafter, was back in hospital in March and April 2013. There were renewed fears for his health when he returned to hospital in June.

Despite assurances from the presidency that he was in a "serious but stable" condition, South Africans began preparing themselves for the worst as Mandela's family members flocked to Johannesburg, struggle stalwarts paid visits to the icon, and the world's media gathered in Qunu, Houghton and at the Pretoria hospital where he was treated. The much-loved Mandela, known affectionately as Tata Madiba, became increasingly frail and retired from public life in 2004 at the age of 85. Mandela's last public appearance was a brief one, at the end of the Soccer World Cup in 2010. Since then, he has split his time between his home in Houghton and his ancestral home in Qunu in the Eastern Cape. Mandela became the symbol of the struggle against apartheid after he was convicted in the Rivonia Trial of charges of sabotage and was sentenced to life imprisonment on Robben Island. At the end of his trial, Mandela gave a now iconic speech in which he said: "I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.

It is an ideal, which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." Mandela, a key figure in the African National Congress, who helped found the party's youth league and armed wing, Umkhonto weSizwe, was imprisoned for 27 years before he was finally released in 1990 at the age of 71. Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, together with former president FW De Klerk, for the "peaceful termination of the apartheid regime and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa". A year later, he was elected president in the country's first democratic election. He stepped down from the presidency in 1999 after one term in office but continued with a busy public schedule. He brokered negotiations for peace in Rwanda, established the Mandela-Rhodes Foundation for educational scholarship, and launched the 46664 Aids fundraising foundation.

Nelson Mandela, South African Anti-Apartheid Hero, Dies Nelson Mandela, South African Anti-Apartheid Hero, Dies 9.3k By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai 2013-12-05 21:50:24 UTC Nelson Mandela , the former president of South Africa and the anti-apartheid hero, has died at the age of 95. South Africa President Jacob Zuma confirmed Mandela's death on Thursday. In a televised address, Zuma said, "Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father." Mandela died at 8:50 p.m. local time. Mandela passed away after almost a month of being in intensive care. He was admitted into a Hospital in Pretoria, South Africa, on June 8 with a recurring lung infection, an illness that traces back to his years in prison. During the rule of the white racist government and apartheid, Mandela spent 27 years behind bars, before being freed in 1990 and becoming South Africa's first black president in 1994. The tweet, below, was sent from Mandela's account after the announcement of his death.

“Death is something inevitable.When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people&his country,he can rest in peace” #Madiba You can read Zuma's speech in its entirety, below: My Fellow South Africans, Our beloved Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the founding President of our democratic nation has departed. He passed on peacefully in the company of his family around 20h50 on the 5th of December 2013. He is now resting. He is now at peace. Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father. Although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss. His tireless struggle for freedom earned him the respect of the world. His humility, his compassion, and his humanity earned him their love. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Mandela family. To them we owe a debt of gratitude. They have sacrificed much and endured much so that our people could be free. Our thoughts are with his wife Mrs Graca Machel, his former wife Ms Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, with his children, his grand-children, his great grand-children and the entire family.

Our thoughts are with his friends, comrades and colleagues who fought alongside Madiba over the course of a lifetime of struggle. Our thoughts are with the South African people who today mourn the loss of the one person who, more than any other, came to embody their sense of a common nationhood. Our thoughts are with the millions of people across the world who embraced Madiba as their own, and who saw his cause as their cause. This is the moment of our deepest sorrow. Our nation has lost its greatest son. Yet, what made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves. And in him we saw so much of ourselves. Fellow South Africans, Nelson Mandela Young Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela, leader of the African National Congress (ANC), adopts a boxing pose, circa 1950. Image by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images. Mandela Charged with Treason Nelson Mandela (3rd from right), leader of the African National Congress, Patrick Molaoa, and Robert Resha, are charged with treason by the South-African Union, in Johannesburg, South Africa, 1952. Image by API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images.

ANC Supporters Give the Thumbs Up ANC supporters give the thumb up as a prison van with Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid militants go to Johannesburg's courthouse in December, 1956. Image by OFF/AFP/Getty Images. Mandela and Winnie ANC member Nelson Mandela and his then-wife Winnie at their wedding in 1957. Image by Alf Khumalo/AFP/Getty Images. Mandela and Oliver Tambo Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo, partners in their Johannesburg law practice to provide blacks with affordable legal representation. 1960. Image by Jurgen Schadeberg/Getty Images. Nelson Mandela and C Andrews Nelson Mandela, President of ANC, (left) in discussion with C Andrews, a Cape Town teacher. 1964. Image by Three Lions/Getty Images. Mandela Sentenced to Life Imprisonment Eight men, including anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, are sentenced to life imprisonment for conspiracy, sabotage and treason and leave the Palace of Justice with their fists raised in defiance, June 1964. Image by OFF/AFP/Getty Images.

Mandela Meets Palestinian Leader Arafat Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat meets with Nelson Mandela in October, 1988. Image by Palestinian Authorities via Getty Images. Mandela Released from Verster Prison Anti-apartheid leader and African National Congress (ANC) member Nelson Mandela and wife Winnie raise fists upon Mandela's release from Victor Verster prison on February 11, 1990. Image by Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images. Mandela Makes First Speech After Release from Prison Mandela makes first speech in Capetown upon his release from the Victor Verster Prison, February 11, 1990. Image by Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images. Mandela Reunited with Family Upon Release from Prison Nelson Mandela, wife Winnie Mandela, ANC general secretary and former Robben Island prison inmate Walter Sisulu, and other unidentified relatives raise their fists at Desmond Tutu's residence in Cape Town, one day after the release from jail of Nelson Mandela, February 12, 1990. Image by Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images.

Mandela and Grandchild Bambata African National Congress (ANC) member Nelson Mandela and wife Winnie play with their grandchild Bambata at their Soweto home, February 1990. Image by Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images. Mandela and Zambian President Kenneth Kaunda South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela and Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda wave to the crowd as they arrive at a mass rally of ANC, in Lusaka, March 1998, seat of the exiled ANC. Image by Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images. Mandela at the UN South African National Congress President Nelson Mandela urges the U.N . to maintain sanctions against South Africa until apartheid is abolished, June 1990. Image by Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images. Mandela and Bush Nelson Mandela waves after finishing his joint statement with former US President George Bush on the White House Lawn in Washington, DC on June 25, 1990. Kevin Larkin/AFP/Getty Images.

Mandela Makes a Funeral Address in Soweto Nelson Mandela makes an address at a funeral of 12 people who died during recent township unrests in Soweto, September 1990. Image b y Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images. Mandela's Electoral Campaign ANC president Nelson Mandela waves to supporters during an electoral meeting, on January 30, 1994 in Rustenburg, Western Transvaal, as he campaigns for presidential election. Image by Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images. Mandela Greets Supporters at Election Rally President Nelson Mandela greets young supporters who wait for atop a billboard in a township outside Durban, 16 April 1994 prior to an election rally. Image by Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images. Mandela Campaigns in Cape Town Nelson Mandela campaigns during the first democratic election in Cape Town, South Africa, 1994. Image by Susan Winters Cook/Getty Images. Mandela at the Durban Pre-election Rally Nelson Mandela acknowledges a crowd of ANC supporters at a pre-election rally in April, 1994, Durban, South Africa. Image by Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images.

ANC President Mandela Casts Historic Vote President Nelson Mandela casts his historic vote during South Africa's first democratic and all-race general elections in April, 1994. Image by Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images. Mandela's Inauguration President Mandela take the oath during his inauguration in Pretoria, South Africa, on May 10, 1994. Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images. Mandela at Rally in Mmabatho ANC President Nelson Mandela gives a clenched fist to supporters at his first rally in Mmabatho on December 7, 1995, after the fall of President Lucas Mangope.Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images. President Mandela Commemorates Massacre Mandela, in leopard skin, releases a white dove for peace at a rally on December 7, 1995, to commemorate 34th anniversary of the massacre of 69 demonstrators by the police in Sharpville. Image by Walter Dhladhla/AFP/Getty Images.

Mandela Revisits Robben Island Former South African President Nelson Mandela holds a symbolic millennium candle on December 31, 1999 in his cell at the prison of Robben Island where he was imprisoned for 27 years during the apartheid time. Image by Yoav Lemmer/AFP/Getty Images. Mandela and Tutu Celebrate the Right to Host the World Cup Finals Former President Nelson Mandela holds the Jules Rimet World cup beside Capetown Archbishop Desmond Tutu, May 2004. South Africa won the right to host the 2010 World Cup finals, the first to be played in Africa. Image by Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images. Statue of Nelson Mandela Unveiled Ex-South African President Nelson Mandela addresses the crowd during a statue unveiling ceremony in his honour at Parliament Square in London, England, August 29, 2007. Image by Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images. The South African Rugby Team Visits Mandela Nelson Mandela poses with South Africa Rugby Union coach Jake White and captain John Smit and the Webb-Ellis cup after South Africa defeated former champions England in the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final.

Image by Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images/Getty Images. Mandela Meet With Rwandan President Nelson Mandela and Rwandan President Paul Kagame meet in Johannesburg, South Africa, March 20, 2009. Image by Denis Farrell/Pool/Getty Images. Mandela Reunited with the Edlers Nelson Mandela Is reunited with the Edlers three years after he launched the group, May 2010. Jeff Moore/Handout/Getty Image. Two Former Presidents Bill Clinton poses with Nelson Mandela on the eve of his 94th birthday at his residence in Qunu, South Africa, July 17, 2012. Image by Barbara Kinney/Clinton Foundation via Getty Images. The "Mandela Walk" Tourists on 'the Mandela walk' look at an outside exhibition at Chancellor House in Pretoria on June 15, 2013, the inner city building near the law courts that sheltered Mandela & Tambo Attorneys, the office of the former South African President Nelson Mandela in the 1950s. Image by Mujahid Safodien/AFP/Getty Images.

Image via Media24/Gallo Images/Getty Images Nelson Mandela Dies: Former President of South Africa Has Passed Away - Us Weekly Nelson Mandela Dies: Former President of South Africa Has Passed Away December 5, 2013 @ 5:00 PM By Esther Lee Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, has passed away. He was 95. Credit: Dave Benett/Getty Images The world is in mourning. Nelson Mandela, human rights leader, anti-apartheid icon and former president of South Africa, died on Thursday, Dec. 5. He was 95. South African president Jacob Zuma, who confirmed the Nobel Peace prize winner had "departed" in a statement delivered Thursday afternoon, said South Africa had "lost its greatest son." "What made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human," Zuma continued. "We saw in him what we seek in ourselves." PHOTOS: Stars we lost in 2013 Mandela, who spent 27 years in prison, leaves behind a legacy of inspiring and mobilizing millions of activists around the world.

President Barack Obama lauded Mandela's lifelong achievements in a live statement Thursday: "I cannot fully imagine my own life without the example Nelson Mandela set," Obama revealed. "He lives for the ages." Mandela once wrote in his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, "People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." The revered statesman served as the first black president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and received a Nobel Peace Prize for his work in ending apartheid through non-violent means in 1993. He retired from public life in 2004. He was admitted to Mediclinic Heart Hospital back in June for a recurring lung infection. PHOTOS: Celeb health scares The human rights advocate, who married three times, is survived by six children, 17 grandchildren, and a growing number of great-grandchildren. He married his third wife, Graça Machel, in 1998.

One of Mandela's daughters Zindzi attended the London premiere of Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom -- the biopic based on her father's life -- which was held on Thursday at the Odeon Leicester Square Cinema. Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton joined her at the red carpet premiere. Rather than releasing a written statement, William said a few words to reporters inside the Odeon cinema lobby following the screening: "It's extremely sad and tragic news. We are reminded of what an extraordinary and inspiring man Nelson Mandela was," he said as the Duchess stood by his side. "My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. It’s very sad." Nelson Mandela Dead: Former South African President Dies at 95 - ABC News ABC News Nelson Mandela Dead: Icon of Anti-Apartheid Movement Dies at 95 By ABC News WATCH Nelson Mandela in 60 Seconds 0 Shares Nelson Mandela, the former South African president whose stubborn defiance survived 27 years in prison and led to the dismantling of the country's racist and brutal apartheid system, has died. Mandela was 95 years old.

South Africa's President Jacob Zuma, who announced Mandela's death, said, "We've lost our greatest son." President Obama spoke shortly after Zuma's announcement, praising Mandela as a man who "bent the arc of the moral universe toward justice." "He no longer belongs to us -- he belongs to the ages," Obama said. Mandela had a number of issues with his health in recent years including repeated hospitalizations with a chronic lung infection. Mandela had been listed in "serious but stable condition" after entering the hospital in June before returning to home to receive continued medical care. ABC|Getty Images Nelson Mandela In April, Mandela spent 18 days in the hospital due to a lung infection and was treated for gall stones in December 2012. Mandela's public appearances had become increasingly rare as he dealt with his declining health. His last public appearance was in July of 2010, when he attended the final match and closing ceremonies of the soccer World Cup held in South Africa. In 2011, Mandela met privately with Michelle Obama when the first lady and her daughters traveled to South Africa.

Mandela and the Legacy He Leaves Behind One of the giants of the 20th century, Mandela's career was marked not only by his heroic resistance to racism, but also by his poised and soft spoken demeanor. After enduring nearly three decades of prison, much of it at hard labor in a lime quarry, Mandela emerged as a gentle leader who became South Africa's first black president. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership in ending apartheid without violence, and later became a global statesman who inspired millions people around the world. Mandela was born in 1918, the son of a tribal leader, in a remote village in South Africa. His tribal name, Rolihlahla, meant "troublemaker," a moniker Mandela would more than live up to in his lifetime. In 1952, he emerged onto the national stage when he helped organize the first country-wide protests called the Defiance Campaign. That same year he opened the country's first black law firm.

Ruth Mopati, his secretary at the firm, wrote about the way he was then in the book "Mandela," saying, "He was able to relate to people with respect and therefore he was respected in return." While Mandela's party, the African National Congress, had always been dedicated to non-violence, in 1960 the ANC was banned to prevent further protests after police shot dead 69 black protestors in what became known as the Sharpeville massacre. The events radicalized the organization and led to the creation of the ANC military wing, for which Mandela became its first commander in 1961. In 1962, Mandela was sent to prison on a charge of inciting a strike. "At 1:30 in the morning, on March 30, I was awakened by sharp, unfriendly knocks at my door, the unmistakable signature of the police. 'The time has come,' I said to myself as I opened the door to find half a dozen armed security policemen," Mandela said. Two years later, Mandela was sentenced to life in prison for sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the white government.

Much of the next 27 years in prison were spent in the infamous Robben Island prison where he did hard labor in a lime quarry. During his nearly three decades behind bars, Mandela would become a myth. The government even banned any use of Mandela's image or words, leaving a whole generation to grow up knowing little about the world's most famous political prisoner. Nelson Mandela Teamed Up With White Leader F.W. de Klerk Mandela spoke about his time in his autobiography: "A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones -- and South Africa treated its imprisoned African citizens like animals." After 27 years, President F.W. de Klerk announced in 1990, "Mr. Nelson Mandela will be released from Victor Vestor prison…" On Feb. 11, 1990 Mandela emerged from prison into a world he had not seen in almost three decades. Mandela described leaving the prison and greeting the crowds by saying, "I raised my right fist and there was a roar.

I had not been able to do that for 27 years and it gave me a surge of strength and joy." The country's black townships erupted into celebration for a returning hero. Mandela announced: "Today all South Africans -- black and white -- know that apartheid has no future." Mandela and de Klerk forged an uneasy partnership in the coming years, despite sharing the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. Peace, however, would not come quickly. More than 4,000 people died in political violence in the year leading up the country's free elections in 1994. On April 27, 1994, millions of blacks in an extraordinary show of determination lined up for hours to cast their first ballots. The ANC won in a landslide and Mandela became South Africa's first black president. Mandela announced: "I am the product of Africa and her long cherished dream of a rebirth that can now be realized so that all of her children may play in the sun." He remained in office for five years. In 1999 in his final act of leadership, he oversaw the peaceful transfer of power to a handpicked successor.

His post-prison years were marred, however, by the scandal that surrounded his wife Winnie Mandela. They were married for only four months when Mandela was sent away to prison, and she spent the next 27 years campaigning for his release and amassing her own power base. By the time Mandela was freed from jail, Winnie had become an unpopular and feared figure in South Africa. She was eventually convicted of kidnapping in the case of four teenage boys, including one who died. She was sentenced to six years in prison, but the charges were later reduced to theft and fraud and she was forced to pay a fine instead. Mandela's Late in Life Love Life Mandela, who had stood by his wife at first, divorced her in 1995 after revealing to a South African court that his wife was carrying on an adulterous affair that left him as "the loneliest man." But a late-in-life romance blossomed for the gentle statesman with Graca Machel, an influential campaigner for children's rights and the widow of Mozambique's former president Samora Machel. The two were married in 1998 on Mandela's 80th birthday. She was 52.

In 2001 Mandela was diagnosed with prostate cancer, but doctors said that wasn't unusual for man of Mandela's age and treated it with radiation therapy. After he left office, Mandela became a global statesman, mediating conflicts in some of the world's worst troubled spots. He also devoted much of his time to his charity for children. In an interview with PBS' "Frontline," Rick Stengel who co-authored "A Long Walk to Freedom" with Mandela, said , "One of the things that separates Mandela from other people ... is that he's an optimist. He's a cockeyed optimist." In 2008, tens of thousands of people turned out in London to honor him for his 90th birthday. Nelson Mandela told them the fight against injustice is not yet won. But after a lifetime of working for peace, he told the crowd, "It is in your hands now." The following year, actor and director Clint Eastwood delivered his Academy award-winning film, "Invictus," telling the story of Mandela's efforts to unite the people of South Africa through a national rugby team in 1995.

The title of the film came from a short Victorian poem by the same name that Mandela was known for reciting. In the end, the boy who was named "troublemaker" became one of the greatest peacemakers of the past century. He will be greatly remembered as a symbol of the fight for human rights, and as a leader who healed a greatly divided nation in the face of overwhelming odds. ABC News' Lauren Effron contributed to this report. 0 Shares

Question: How old was Nelson Mandela, when he passed away on the 5th?
Answer: 95