The Ulster Unionist Party leader and former first minister of Northern Ireland, Lord Trimble, has passed away.
The Good Friday Agreement, the peace accord that put an end to the worst of Northern Ireland’s Troubles, was negotiated in large part by Lord Trimble, a 77-year-old former UUP leader who served as its leader from 1995 to 2005.
Together with SDLP leader John Hume, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize for his contributions.
He has served as Baron Trimble of Lisnagarvey in the House of Lords since 2006.
In the new Northern Ireland Executive that was founded as part of the Good Friday Agreement, he was the first person to hold the position of first minister.
Lord Trimble was a staunch political unionist leader who made a concession to maintain peace in Northern Ireland at a crucial juncture.
And it came at a high price—not just for him personally, given the hatred he endured at the time, but also for his party.
The UUP was once the leading unionist party in Northern Ireland, but the DUP overtook it in the years following the Good Friday Agreement.
