Full Name: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela; Profession: Anti-apartheid revolutionary, lawyer, political leader, philanthropist, President of South Africa, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and author. Nationality: South African; Born: 18 July 1918; Birthplace: Mvezo, Umtata, Cape Province, Union of South Africa (now in the Eastern Cape, South Africa). Generation: Greatest Generation (cohort born roughly 1901–1924 who came of age during the Great Depression and the Second World War); Chinese Zodiac: Earth Horse, associated with dynamic action, endurance and idealism in Chinese astrology; Zodiac Sign: Cancer, emphasizing emotional depth, tenacity and protective care for community; Age in 2026: 108 years old (he would have turned 108 on 18 July 2026 if still alive); Marital Status: Married three times—first to nurse Evelyn Mase (married 1944, four children, divorced 1958); then to social worker and activist Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (married 1958, two children, separated during his imprisonment and divorced 1996); and finally to Mozambican politician and humanitarian Graça Machel (married 1998, remained his wife until he died in 2013). Children: six biological children from his first two marriages and a large extended family of grandchildren and great-grandchildren who have carried forward his public and philanthropic legacy; Description: Nelson Mandela was a South African lawyer turned liberation leader whose lifelong struggle against the racist apartheid regime led him to co-found and guide the African National Congress Youth League, organize nonviolent protests and later support armed resistance when peaceful avenues were brutally suppressed, actions that resulted in his notorious Rivonia Trial conviction and an eventual total of 27 years of incarceration, most of it under harsh conditions on Robben Island; from his prison cell he became the moral center of the global anti-apartheid movement, inspiring international sanctions and solidarity campaigns while refining a political philosophy that combined unyielding opposition to racial domination with a profound commitment to negotiation, forgiveness, and inclusive democracy; released in 1990 amid mounting domestic resistance and international pressure, Mandela led multi-party talks that dismantled apartheid’s legal architecture and, in South Africa’s first fully democratic elections in 1994, was elected the country’s first Black and first fully representative president, guiding a fragile society away from civil war through truth and reconciliation processes, power-sharing arrangements, and constitutional reforms that expanded human rights protections; beyond his presidency he became a global elder statesman whose speeches and personal example—marked by humility, discipline, and a refusal to seek revenge—reshaped how the world understood leadership, making him a universal symbol of freedom, justice, and the possibility of healing after systemic violence; Cause of death: Died on 5 December 2013 in Johannesburg at the age of 95 after a prolonged lung and respiratory infection; widely mourned across South Africa and around the world as one of the most influential moral and political leaders of the twentieth century.