Desmond and Leah Tutu were married for 66 years. They wed in 1955 as two young teachers, and in 2015 they renewed their vows to mark 60 years together.
The headmaster’s pupil
Leah Nomalizo Shenxane had been a pupil of Desmond Tutu’s father, a school headmaster. Desmond and Leah married on 2 July 1955, when he was a young teacher. They had four children: Trevor, Thandeka, Naomi and Mpho.
Priest, bishop, Nobel laureate
Tutu left teaching in protest at Bantu Education and trained for the priesthood. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and became Archbishop of Cape Town in 1986. Leah helped found the South African Domestic Workers’ Association.
Sixty-six years
After the vow renewal in 2015 the couple stayed together until Desmond’s death in Cape Town on 26 December 2021, aged 90.
