From seminarian to the architect of the peace process

:: Born January 18, 1937, in Derry, a city divided by poverty and religious discrimination.

:: He went on to become an internationally acknowledged human rights and peace campaigner, was the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1998, and was named “Ireland’s Greatest Person” by popular vote on RTÉ television in 2010.

:: Educated in St Columb’s College, Derry, and Maynooth, Co Kildare, where he abandoned studies for the Catholic priesthood. Became a teacher of history and French and a community activist in Derry.

:: Married wife Pat, also a teacher, in 1960. They had five children.

:: Originally active in the credit union movement and on housing, fighting discrimination against nationalists. An early activist in the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association.

:: A life-long proponent of peaceful protest, he criticised the old Nationalist Party’s failure to properly represent the Catholic minority.

:: Elected to the Northern Ireland parliament in 1969. In 1970, he helped found the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), seeking justice via nonviolent action.

:: Briefly Commerce Minister in 1974 in the power-sharing government set up under the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement and smashed by Loyalist trade unions.

:: From 1972 onwards he began successfully forging longterm links with key Irish-US politicians, notably Senators Ted Kennedy and US House speaker Tip O’Neill. These people eventually exerted big influence in London on Northern Ireland issues.

:: Elected to the European Parliament in 1979, he became an increasingly influential figure in Dublin, London, Brussels and Washington. He also took over leadership of the SDLP.

:: Associated with the New Ireland Forum in 1984 which led on to the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement.

:: In the early 1990s, he began controversial talks with Sinn Féin and the IRA via Gerry Adams. He faced criticism on all sides and long periods of doubt. But they yielded an IRA ceasefire in 1994 and the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

:: In 2001, he turned down an opportunity to become Northern Ireland deputy first minister and retired in 2004. In recent years he suffered poor health.

PHOTOS: PA, GETTY AND AP Clockwise from left: John Hume with his wife Pat at the funeral of Martin McGuinness; with Nelson Mandela in 2000; at a press conference in Dublin in 1981; in his native Derry city; and making his Nobel speech during the awards ceremony in Oslo, Norway, in 1998.