The death has taken place in Johannesburg of Mr Marius Schoon, a long-time activist in the African National Congress who spent many years in Ireland as a political exile.
Mr Schoon was born in the Western Cape into an Afrikaner family, and was educated at Stellenbosch University near Cape Town. As a student, he joined the ANC and was jailed for 12 years for his anti-apartheid activities.
After his release, Mr Schoon and his wife, Jenny, went into exile and settled in Angola with their two children. A letter bomb sent to Mr Schoon by the South African secret police exploded in their home, killing Mrs Schoon and their daughter.
The incident was investigated a few months ago at hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Ms Jenny Schoon was of Irish descent, and in 1985 Mr Schoon was given an Irish passport by the the Fine Gael-Labour coalition government. He came to Ireland with his son, Fritz, and in Dublin he met Ms Sherry McLean, whom he later married.
A year later, Marius and Sherry moved to the ANC camp in Tanzania. On their return to Ireland, he was appointed director of Comhlamh, the association of returned development workers, and continued as an active member of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Shortly after President Nelson Mandela's release from jail, Mr Schoon returned to South Africa, where he worked with the South African Development Bank. He died on Sunday in hospital after a long battle against cancer. He leaves his wife Sherry and son Fritz.
"His dedication to the freedom struggle in his country never diminished," the former minister of state for foreign affairs, Ms Joan Burton, said yesterday.