An uncompromising foe of apartheid - South Africa's brutal regime of oppression against the Black majority - Tutu worked tirelessly, though non-violently, for its downfall.
Tutu died peacefully at the Oasis Frail Care Center in Cape Town, the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Trust said in a statement Sunday. The Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 highlighted his stature as one of the world's most effective champions for human rights, a responsibility he took seriously for the rest of his life.
Upon becoming president in 1994, Mandela appointed Tutu to be chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which uncovered the abuses of the apartheid system.“I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this,” he said in 2013, launching a campaign for LGBT rights in Cape Town. “I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven. No, I would say, `Sorry, I would much rather go to the other place.
May he rest in peace.