Former Northern Ireland Chief Minister David Trimble dies aged 77

July 25 () –

David Trimble, former chief minister of Northern Ireland between 1998 and 2002 and Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1998, has died this Monday at the age of 77 and after facing a “brief illness”.

Trimble led the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) from 1995 to 2005 and was instrumental in the 1998 Good Friday Accords, the peace agreement that ended the nationalist armed conflict in Northern Ireland.

In fact, his dedication helped him, along with the then leader of the Ulster Social Democratic Party, John Hume, to receive the Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland.”

“It is with great sadness that the family of Lord Trimble announce that he passed away peacefully earlier today after a short illness,” UUP reported in a statement collected by the BBC.

The current leader of the formation, Doug Beattie, has described Trimble as “a man of courage and vision”, who has praised his decision to “seize the opportunity for peace when it presented itself” to end “decades of violence who ruined their beloved Northern Ireland”.

“He will always be associated with the leadership he showed in the negotiations that led to the 1998 Belfast Agreement — as the Good Friday Agreements are also known –,” Beattie posted on social media.