Gerrit Ybema (29 October 1945 – 15 February 2012) was a Dutch politician in the

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a Social liberalism, social liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the Centrism, centre of the Left–right political spectrum, p ...

(D66) party. He served as a Member of the House of Representatives from 14 September 1989 to 3 August 1998, when he became State Secretary for Economic Affairs in the Second Kok cabinet, serving until 22 July 2002. Born in

Schettens Schettens ( fry, Skettens) is a village in Súdwest-Fryslân in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. It had a population of around 285 in January 2017. History The village was first mentioned in 855 as Sceddanuurthi. The etymology is uncl ...

, Ybema studied economics at University of Groningen. He graduated

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

in 1977. After working at

Enschede Enschede (; known as in the local Twents dialect) is a municipality and city in the eastern Netherlands in the province of Overijssel and in the Twente region. The eastern parts of the urban area reaches the border of the German city of Gronau ...

municipality, he moved to Friesland province in 1986 to become advisor to its

Gedeputeerde Staten The provincial executive (, GS) is the executive branch of government of a province in the Netherlands. It is the equivalent of the municipal executive at the provincial level. The provincial executive consists of the King's Commissioner (chair) ...

. He was member of political party Democraten 66 and was elected to the municipal council of Leeuwarden. In 1989 he was elected to the House of Representatives. In his latter years, Ybema owned a consultancy company named ''Ybema Economy Solutions''.

Personal life

Ybema was married and lived in the Frisian village

Uitwellingerga Uitwellingerga ( fry, Twellingea) is a village in Súdwest-Fryslân municipality in the province of Friesland, the Netherlands. It had a population of around 355 in January 2017. Along with Oppenhuizen, it is a twin-village also called ''Top and T ...

. He had three children with his first wife. His second wife had two children out of her first marriage.

Decorations

* Order of Oranje-Nassau ** Knight (December 10, 2002)

Notes

References

Parlement.com biography
1945 births 2012 deaths Deaths from cancer in the Netherlands Deaths from lung cancer Democrats 66 politicians Dutch businesspeople Dutch civil servants Dutch management consultants Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Municipal councillors of Leeuwarden People from Wûnseradiel Protestant Church Christians from the Netherlands State Secretaries for Economic Affairs of the Netherlands University of Groningen alumni {{Netherlands-politician-stub