Desmond Tutu, the former Archbishop of Cape Town who won the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his impassioned campaign against apartheid in South Africa while Nelson Mandela languished in prison,dies at 90.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the South African cleric and social activist who was a giant of the struggle against apartheid, has died last month at age 90, prompting tributes from religious leaders, politicians, and activists from around the world.

Tutu, described by observers at home and abroad as the moral conscience of the nation, died in Cape Town on Boxing Day, weeks after the death of FW de Klerk, the country’s last white president.“The passing of archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutuis another chapter of bereavement in our nation’s farewell to a generation of outstanding South Africans who have bequeathed us a liberated South Africa,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa. “From the pavements of resistance in South Africa to the pulpits of the world’s great cathedrals and places of worship, and the prestigious setting of the Nobel peace prize ceremony, the Arch distinguished himself as a non-sectarian, inclusive champion of universal human rights.”

Tutu, 90, died of cancer at a care center in Cape Town, the Archbishop Desmond Tutu Trust said in a statement. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1997 and had been hospitalized several times in recent years. 

A moral beacon in a deeply troubled land, the impish priest in the purple cassock stood for decades as an inspiring symbol of courage, dignity, and hope in a nation that at times seemed doomed to civil war. His fervent pleas for peace and racial justice, along with his irrepressible sense of humour, were a constant balm to a country on the edge.

Tutu held a unique place in apartheid-era South Africa, and he used his stature as an Anglican prelate to navigate violent crosscurrents. He wept at funerals for victims of apartheid, risked his life to stop violence by Black protesters, and defied death threats by white people for leading the international campaign to impose economic and cultural sanctions against the white minority regime.

Then, after the success of the anti-apartheid movement, he served as a goad to the governing African National Congress, upbraiding leaders over corruption and failure to adequately address the nation’s widespread poverty.

He shrieked with joy when South Africans lined up peacefully to vote in the first all-race elections in April 1994. He giggled with glee when he raised the hand of Mandela, the long-imprisoned leader of the African National Congress, and introduced “our brand-new president, out of the box” to crowds in Cape Town the following month. 

As the leader of the South African Council of Churches and later as Anglican archbishop of Cape Town, Archbishop Tutu led the church to the forefront of Black South Africans’ decades-long struggle for freedom. His voice was a powerful force for non-violence in the anti-apartheid movement, earning him a Nobel Peace Prize in 1984

When that movement triumphed in the early 1990s, he prodded the country toward a new relationship between its white and Black citizens, and, as chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he gathered testimony documenting the viciousness of apartheid.

“You are overwhelmed by the extent of evil,” he said. But, he added, it was necessary to open the wound to cleanse it. In return for an honest accounting of past crimes, the committee offered amnesty, establishing what Archbishop Tutu called the principle of restorative — rather than retributive — justice.

His credibility was crucial to the commission’s efforts to get former members of the South African security forces and former guerrilla fighters to cooperate with the inquiry. 

In 2004, the archbishop accused President Thabo Mbeki, Mr. Mandela’s successor, of pursuing policies that enriched a tiny elite while “many, too many, of our people, live in gruelling, demeaning, dehumanizing poverty.” We are sitting on a powder keg,” he said.

Although he and Mr. Mbeki later reconciled — they were photographed together in 2015 as Mr. Mbeki, by then the former president visited Archbishop Tutu in a hospital — the archbishop remained unhappy about the state of affairs in his country under its next president, Jacob G. Zuma, who had denied Mr. Mbeki another term despite being embroiled in scandal. 

Then, in 2011, as critics accused the A.N.C. of corruption and mismanagement, Archbishop Tutu again assailed the government, this time in terms that would have once been unimaginable. “This government, our government, is worse than the apartheid government,” he said, “because at least you were expecting it with the apartheid government.” 

He added: “Mr. Zuma, you and your government don’t represent me. You represent your own interests. I am warning you out of love, one day we will start praying for the defeat of the A.N.C. government. You are disgraceful.” 

His words seemed prophetic when, in 2016, an alliance of religious leaders in South Africa joined other critics in urging Mr. Zuma to quit. In early 2018, Mr. Zuma was ousted after a power struggle with his deputy, Mr. Ramaphosa, who took over the presidency in February of that year. 

His moral leadership, combined with his winning effervescence, made him something of a global celebrity. He was photographed at glittering social functions, appeared in documentaries, and chatted with talk-show hosts. Even in late 2015, when his health seemed poor, he met with Prince Harry of Britain, who presented him with honour on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II.