Marius Johannes Josephus van Amelsvoort (29 August 1930 – 30 May 2006) was a Dutch politician and diplomat of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) party and later the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and economist.[1]
Van Amelsvoort semi-retired after spending 25 years in national politics and became active in the public sector and occupied numerous seats as a corporate director and nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards and as an advocate and lobbyist for Pensioners' interests. Van Amelsvoort also worked as a trade association executive for the Catholic Senior Citizens association (KBO) serving as Chairman of the Executive Board from 1 February 1995 until 30 May 2003.
Van Amelsvoort was known for his abilities as a debater and policy wonk. Van Amelsvoort continued to comment on political affairs until his death from a cerebrovascular disease at the age of 75.
Biography
Early life
He studied economics at the Tilburg University in Tilburg, and worked for several years at the Dutch embassy in the United States. Then he worked a long time in the banking sector as was a Board Member of the First Chamber of the CSF in which he acted as a spokesman for financial affairs.
Politics
After a brief interlude in the European Parliament followed from 1971 to 1980 a member of the Second Chamber. In the first period he was Spokesman on Development and Foreign Affairs, and in 1973 he turned down a post as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. Although he retired in 1994, from 1995 to 2003 he was President of the Union of Catholic Federal Elderly (CBE) which was in still in direct contact with his party, the CDA.
Personal
Van Amelsvoort was seriously ill from 2003, and died in May 2006 at 75 years of age.