Henricus Johannes Bernardus "Harry" Aarts (9 March 1930 – 25 March 2020) was a Dutch politician. He served in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

for the

Catholic People's Party The Catholic People's Party ( nl, Katholieke Volkspartij, KVP) was a Catholic Christian democratic political party in the Netherlands. The party was founded in 1945 as a continuation of the Roman Catholic State Party, which was a continuation of ...

and later the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolution ...

from 23 January 1973 until 1 October 1993.

Life

Aarts was born in

's-Hertogenbosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a city and municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 157,486. It is the capital of the province of North Brabant and its fourth largest by population. The city is south of th ...

on 9 March 1930. After attending primary and high school in the same city he studied political science at the Catholic University Nijmegen between 1949 and 1955. Aarts was a member of the municipal council of 's-Hertogenbosch from 1 September 1953 to 2 September 1958. After working at the

Heineken Heineken Lager Beer ( nl, Heineken Pilsener), or simply Heineken () is a pale lager beer with 5% alcohol by volume produced by the Dutch brewing company Heineken N.V. Heineken beer is sold in a green bottle with a red star. History On 15 Feb ...

brewery for two years he was organisation advisor at the Association of Netherlands Municipalities between 1959 and 1965. He was then appointed mayor of

Berkel-Enschot Berkel-Enschot is a Dutch village, located in the municipality of Tilburg in the North Brabant province which borders Belgium. Geography Berkel-Enschot is located between Tilburg and Oisterwijk. Surrounding towns and hamlets are Brem, Heikant, He ...

and served from 16 July 1965 until 16 March 1974. Aarts became a member of the

for the

on 23 January 1973. From 1975 to 1978 he served as chair of the commission of interior affairs. When the Catholic People's Party merged into the

in 1980 Aarts remained a member. He also served as chair of the commission of development aid between 1978 and 1989 and foreign affairs between 1989 and 1993. Aarts left the House on 1 October 1993. He subsequently served as member in extraordinary service of the

Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...

until 1 October 1998. Aarts was appointed Knight in the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

on 29 April 1985. He died on 25 March 2020 in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aarts, Harry 1930 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Dutch politicians Catholic People's Party politicians Christian Democratic Appeal politicians Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Members of the House of Representatives (Netherlands) Municipal councillors of 's-Hertogenbosch People from 's-Hertogenbosch Radboud University Nijmegen alumni