Said World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, "The death of Albert van den Heuvel marks not only the passing of a champion of ecumenical engagement in social justice but also of an era when those giants of justice struggled for decades to see the end of Apartheid. We are ever mindful of our debt and his legacy as we strive to build communities of reconciliation today." Van den Heuvel, originally from Utrecht, was just 26 when he joined the WCC staff as coordinator of its Youth Department, then moved to Communications, serving as WCC director of communications and working closely for several years with the WCC’s first general secretary, Willem Visser t’ Hooft, until 1972. His tenure at the WCC coincided with the rise of political theology, liberation theology, and the ecumenical struggle against Apartheid in Southern Africa, culminating in the WCC’s landmark Fourth Assembly, held in Uppsala, Sweden, in 1968. “As director of the World Council's communication department,” observed theologian Jurjen Zeilstra, “van den Heuvel advocated a new appreciation of the media for spreading universal human values. He expected a lot from this in the fight against exclusive nationalism, the power and pressure of ecclesiastical demands for conformity, and the inhibiting effect of moral and religious regulations. He called the media ‘the breviary of modern man' and saw its messianic opportunities.” Today, continued Zeilstra, “Van den Heuvel's optimism, activism and ideas regarding communication and social involvement remain valuable sources of inspiration, even in fundamentally changed times.” A dynamic communicator, van den Heuvel’s tenure oversaw launch of the Risk Book Series in 1967, featuring brief, edgy volumes in progressive theology, ethics, and spirituality. Among the twenty books he himself authored were important contributions to ecumenical social ethics, including Those Rebellious Powers (1965), You Are Hiding God from Me (1973), Unity through Liberation: Jesus Christ Liberates and Unites (1975), Shalom and Combat: A Personal Struggle against Racism (Risk series, 1979), and his compilation of key speeches from the Uppsala assembly, Unity of Mankind (1968). Even after his time at the WCC, van den Heuvel continued his deep engagement with the WCC’s Programme to Combat Racism and with other issues of human rights. Back in the Netherlands, he served from 1972 as secretary general to the Dutch Reformed Church, and then from 1980 held several nationally prominent positions in Dutch radio and television broadcasting, including as head of the progressive Dutch public broadcasting network VARA ("Vereeniging van Arbeiders Radio Amateurs"). Van den Heuvel had occasion to celebrate the fruit of decades of anti-Apartheid campaigning in 1994, at a rally in Sharpeville, South Africa, after the election of Nelson Mandela, as he narrated in 2010: “I always remember that moment of joy as a crown on the history of hundreds of years, in the end. We all knew when we were dancing there that the day after tomorrow we would be back at hard work, and it would take a generation to build a new South Africa. But that moment, if a person lives through that, he has an experience of what life is supposed to be.” A farewell service will be celebrated on Thursday, 30 October 30 at 13h00, in the Westerkerk in Amsterdam. See van den Heuvel’s reminiscence as an observer at the first fully democratic elections in 1994 Read an engaging profile of van den Heuvel by theologian Jurjen Zeilstra Sample the most important speeches from the Uppsala assembly | 
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