Frederik Willem de Klerk, the last president of apartheid South Africa and a key role player in that country's transition to democracy, has died. The FW de Klerk Foundation in a statement on its website announced the death of the 85-year-old former statesman. The foundation says de Klerk died peacefully at his home in Fresnaye South Africa early on Thursday morning. He was the head of state in South Africa from September 1989 until May 1994 and became one of the country's two deputy presidents after the first multi-racial, democratic election in April 1994. De Klerk also played a key role in the events which led up to Namibia's independence.