South African Archbishop, Nobel peace laureate, anti-apartheid leader and voice of justice, Desmond Tutu, called to eternal rest at 90. Cyril Ramaphosa, South African President confirmed his death on Sunday and called him "a patriot without equal."

"A man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility against the forces of apartheid, he was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid, and oppressed and downtrodden people around the world," Ramaphosa said.

The Nobel Peace Prize-winning Anglican cleric who was known for his good humor, inspiring message and conscientious work for civil and human rights, made him a revered leader during the struggle to end apartheid in his native South Africa.

For six decades, Archbishop Tutu, known affectionately as "the Arch", was one of the primary voices in exhorting the South African government to end apartheid, the country's official policy of racial segregation. After apartheid ended in the early '90s the arhcbishop was named chair of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The Nelson Mandela foundation called Tutu's loss "immeasurable."

Tutu's civil and human rights work led to prominent honors from around the world. Former US President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. In 2012, Tutu was awarded a $1 million grant by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation for "his lifelong commitment to speaking truth to power." The following year, he received the Templeton Prize for his "life-long work in advancing spiritual principles such as love and forgiveness which has helped to liberate people around the world." He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984.

The current archbishop of Cape Town and metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Thabo Makgoba, said that the church will plan Tutu's funeral and memorial services. "Desmond Tutu's legacy is moral strength, moral courage and clarity," Makgoba said in a statement. "He felt with the people. In public and alone, he cried because he felt people's pain. And he laughed no, not just laughed, he cackled with delight when he shared their joy."

Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born October 7, 1931, in Klerksdorp, a town in South Africa's Transvaal province. His father was a teacher and his mother was a domestic worker. He qualified for medical school, but his parents couldn't afford the fees, so teaching beckoned.

Tutu resigned as a teacher in protest of government restrictions on education for Black children, the Bantu Education Act. He was ordained in 1960 and spent the '60s and early '70s alternating between London and South Africa. In 1975 he was appointed dean of St. Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg and immediately used his new position to make political statements.

In 1988, two years after being named Archbishop of Cape Town, becoming the first Black man to head the Anglican Church in South Africa, Tutu was arrested while taking an anti-apartheid petition to South Africa's parliament.

In 1995 Mandela appointed him chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address the human rights violations of the apartheid years. Tutu broke down at the TRC's first hearing in 1996. The TRC gave its report to the government in 1998. Tutu established the Desmond Tutu Peace Trust the same year.

He returned to teaching, becoming a visiting professor at Emory University in Atlanta for two years and later lecturing at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He published a handful of books, including "No Future Without Forgiveness" (1999), "God Is Not a Christian" (2011), and a children's book, "Desmond and the Very Mean Word" (2012).

He retired from public service in 2010 but remained unafraid to take controversial positions. Tutu had been in ill health for years. In 2013, he underwent tests for a persistent infection, and was admitted to hospital several times in following years. Tutu is survived by his wife of more than 60 years, Nomalizo Leah Tutu, with whom he had four children, Trevor, Theresa, Naomi and Mpho.