Clemens Gerard Antoon Cornielje (10 June 1958 – 17 March 2022) was a Dutch politician and

political consultant Political consulting is a form of consulting that consists primarily of advising and assisting political campaigns. Although the most important role of political consultants is arguably the development and production of mass media (largely televi ...

and educator.

Biography

Born in

Lobith Lobith is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Zevenaar. Traditionally, it is said that the Rhine enters the Netherlands at Lobith, although in reality, this happens about 4 km further upstream, ...

, he was member of the

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy ( , VVD) is a Conservative liberalism, conservative-liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands. The VVD, whose forerunner was the Freedom Party (Netherl ...

(Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie). From 1994 to 2005 he was a member of the

Dutch House of Representatives The House of Representatives ( , literally "Second Chamber of the States General", or simply ) is the lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliament of the Netherlands, the States General of the Netherlands, States General, the other one ...

. From 31 August 2005 to 23 January 2019 he has been

King's Commissioner A King's commissioner (, ''CvdK'') is the head of government and legislature in a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands. When the List of monarchs of the Netherlands, reigning monarch is a woman, the title is Queen's commission ...

(Queen's Commissioner until 2013) of the province of

Gelderland Gelderland ( , ), also known as Guelders ( ) in English, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands, located in the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Nethe ...

. Cornielje studied

biology Biology is the scientific study of life and living organisms. It is a broad natural science that encompasses a wide range of fields and unifying principles that explain the structure, function, growth, History of life, origin, evolution, and ...

and

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

at a

vocational university A vocational university or university of applied sciences (UAS), less commonly called a polytechnic university is an institution of higher education and increasingly research that provides applied professional education and grants academic de ...

Nijmegen Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...

to become a teacher in secondary education. He was a member of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, and was openly gay. 2016-07-11 dru burgmeester oij

At the beginning of 2010, Cornielje was diagnosed with a

malignant tumor Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal ...

, requiring him to resign. But he returned to work after several months. He was diagnosed with

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

again in May 2015. In April 2017, a

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

was discovered. On 11 April 2018, Cornielje announced his intention to resign as King's Commissioner on 1 February 2019. He justified this not because of his illness, but because it is time for his successor. By announcing his departure early, according to him, there will be enough space to find his successor in time. He told his political party that he wanted to be a member of the Dutch Senate. On 2 August 2018, it was announced that Cornielje had temporarily resigned from his duties as King's commissioner because of

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, intense headache, vomiting and neck stiffness and occasion ...

. He came back to his duties, and bid farewell to the position on 23 January 2019. He was officially replaced by John Berends on 6 February 2019. Clemens Cornielje was one of three openly gay politicians who served as

, the other two are

Jan Franssen Jan Franssen (born 11 June 1951 in Hilversum) is a Dutch politician. Franssen is a member of the Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie, VVD. He began his political career as an advisor to Hans Wiegel, having previously worked as a history teac ...

and Arno Brok. He was in a relationship with his partner Bertil Niehoff. He died in Arnhem in March 2022.

References

External links

*
Queen's Commissioner Clemens Cornielje
Province of Gelderland website {{DEFAULTSORT:Cornielje, Clemens 1958 births 2022 deaths Deaths from brain cancer in the Netherlands Dutch educators Dutch political consultants Dutch Roman Catholics King's and Queen's Commissioners of Gelderland Dutch gay politicians Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau LGBTQ conservatism LGBTQ governors and heads of sub-national entities LGBTQ members of the Parliament of the Netherlands LGBTQ Roman Catholics Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians 20th-century Dutch LGBTQ people 21st-century Dutch LGBTQ people People from Zevenaar

Biography

See also

References

External links