Desmond Tutu earns $1.7m Templeton Accolade

About Tutu: A leading human rights activist of the late 20th century, the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town played a pivotal role in the downfall of apartheid and subsequently worked to heal wounds in South Africa's traumatized society.

Tutu, 81, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for standing up against white-minority rule. He remains a prominent campaigner for peace and human rights.
Born in Klerksdorp, Transvaal in 1931, Tutu was ordained in 1960 just as the government began resettling black Africans and Asians from areas designated as "whites only".

The Templeton award was announced as his friend and fellow Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela was fighting pneumonia in a third health scare in four months for South Africa's first black president.