Snapshot of Desmond Tutu's life

Known for his charisma and his love for peace and humanitarianism, Desmond Tutu's influence globally remains formidable.

Born on October 7 1931 at Klerksdorp in the former Transvaal province, Tutu aspired to be a doctor. While he was accepted to do a degree in medicine, he was not able to obtain a bursary and settled for teaching, a career his father had followed. In 1951, he enrolled at the Bantu Normal College, outside Pretoria, to study for a teacher's diploma.

He taught at his old school, Madipane High in Krugersdorp, and in 1955 he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of SA (Unisa), according to sahistory.org.za.

On July 2 1955, Tutu married Nomalizo Leah Shenxane, after which he began teaching at Munsieville High School, where his father was headmaster.

Tutu and Leah have four children: Trevor Thamsanqa, Theresa Thandeka, Naomi Nontombi and Mpho Andrea.

In 1955, Tutu enrolled at St Peter's Theological College in Rosettenville, Johannesburg.

Though he was baptised as a Methodist, his family had joined the Anglican Church in 1943. According to sahistory.org.za, Tutu was ordained as a deacon in December 1960 at St Mary's Cathedral, Johannesburg, and took up his first curacy at St Albans Church in Benoni location.

Tutu became the first black Archbishop of the Anglican Church.

He actively participated in the Soweto Parents Crisis Committee, which was set up in the aftermath of the June 16 1976 student uprising and shootings in Soweto.

The former archbishop spent a lot of time travelling abroad to raise funds for the SA Council of Churches (SACC), for which he became general secretary on March 1 1978.

While still holding that position, Tutu wrote to the prime minster of Israel in 1982 appealing to him to stop bombing Beirut, while at the same time he wrote to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat calling on him to exercise “a greater realism regarding Israel's existence”.

Back home, he won the Nobel peace prize in 1984 for his role in the struggle against apartheid and was appointed chairperson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1996.

The TRC's mandate included providing support and reparations to victims and their families, and compiling a full and objective record of the effects of apartheid on SA society. It was a forum for people who had suffered from oppression to speak out about their experiences, and for perpetrators to come clean in the hopes of securing amnesty from prosecution for their actions.

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