Former South African President Nelson Mandela died at the age of 95 in the company of his family, President Jacob Zuma announced.

Mandela had been hospitalized earlier this year due to a lung infection.

Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years for fighting apartheid in South Africa.

President Barack Obama paused as he spoke about Mandela's death. "He belongs to the ages," the US president said.

Lungi Morrison, the granddaughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, sang after lighting a candle for Mandela in London.

Mandela joined the African National Congress in 1944 after "a steady accumulation of a thousand slights" produced in him a desire to fight apartheid.

He was a corecipient of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize and was elected president of South Africa in 1994.

Zuma said a state funeral will be held. "This is the moment of our deepest sorrow," he said.

Two people sang at a gathering in memory of Mandela outside the South African High Commission in London.

A man held candles in front of a mural of Mandela and Obama in New York.

He was never willing to bend on his fundamental aim of abolishing apartheid and making South Africa a multiracial society.

After the government banned the ANC in 1960, he disavowed his commitment to nonviolence and organized the group's military arm.

On Feb. 11, 1990, he became a free man. He is pictured giving the black power salute the day after his release.

Mandela then enjoyed a triumphal tour of seven US cities, including Boston.

At the Kennedy Library in Boston, he joked that "right now, I consider myself an honorary Irishman from Soweto."

Mandela had called on the US to take the opportunity offered by the end of the Cold War to promote democracy, peace, and prosperity.

His predecessor and fellow Nobel recipient, F. W. de Klerk (right), served as Mandela's deputy president.

"It was as if God had taken a hand — a new turn in world history," de Klerk confided to his brother of Mandela's release.

As president of South Africa, he struck an often-uneasy balance between transforming society while striving not to disaffect its Afrikaner population.

An example of this balancing act was the government’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The commission’s dedication to both investigation and forgiveness epitomized Mandela’s presidency.

A Vatican ambassador approached Mandela to present his credentials at the president's office in Cape Town.

Mandela kissed the hand of an unidentified girl during a stroll in a London park.

He received an honorary degree from Amherst College.