Desmond Tutu, an icon who helped end apartheid in South Africa, dies at 90

Nobel Peace Laureate Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a towering figure who helped bring an end to apartheid in South Africa, has died in Cape Town. He was 90.

His death was announced by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who called Tutu "a patriot without equal; a leader of principle and pragmatism who gave meaning to the biblical insight that faith without works is dead." Tutu had been hospitalized several times in recent years.

The passionate advocate for freedom headed the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the 1990s, a grueling inquiry that investigated crimes during the apartheid era. It was widely seen as a crucial, healing step during South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy. The TRC became a model for similar commissions in other parts of the continent.

When Tutu voted for the first time in 1994 in South Africa's first democratic elections, he captured the unbridled joy of a country emerging from a troubled past.