Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as part ...

David de Villiers Graaff, 3rd Baronet (3 May 194024 January 2015), was a South African businessman and owner of De Grendel Wine Estate. The son of Sir De Villiers Graaff, 2nd Baronet, he was born in 1940, after his father left to serve in the

North African Campaign The North African campaign of World War II took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943, fought between the Allies and the Axis Powers. It included campaigns in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts (Western Desert campaign, Desert Wa ...

. Sir De Villiers became a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

in 1942, and would not meet his son until 1945. David took his undergraduate degree BSC Agric

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University (SU) (, ) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant university in Sub-Sahara ...

, preparatory to a career in politics and farming, but also read politics, philosophy and economics at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

and studied at the

University of Grenoble The (, ''Grenoble Alps University'', abbr. UGA) is a Grands établissements, ''grand établissement'' in Grenoble, France. Founded in 1339, it is the third largest university in France with about 60,000 students and over 3,000 researchers. Es ...

. Like his father, he entered South African politics and served as Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry under

FW De Klerk Frederik Willem de Klerk ( , ; 18 March 1936 – 11 November 2021) was a South African politician who served as the seventh and final state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as deputy president alongside Thabo Mbeki under Preside ...

. He retired from Parliament after the 1999 general election. When he inherited the baronetcy and the family estate of De Grendel upon his father's death, he decided to experiment with viniculture and winemaking. Sir David was a director of Graaffs Trust and The Milnerton Estates Limited. He was the Honorary Colonel of the

Cape Garrison Artillery The Autshumato Anti-Aircraft Regiment (formerly the Cape Garrison Artillery) is a reserve air defence artillery regiment of the South African Army. Cape Garrison Artillery (1st) The original regiment had a fragmented history: 1879-1899 A new unit ...

until his death on 24 January 2015. Sir David is survived by his wife Sally and his four children, the eldest of whom,

De Villiers de Villiers is a common French language, French and Afrikaans surname. de Villiers or Devilliers may refer to: *De Villiers (playwright) (c. 1600–1681), French playwright and actor *AB de Villiers, South Africa national cricket team, South Afr ...

, succeeded him in the baronetcy and farming at De Grendel Estate.

References

, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Graaff, David De Villiers, 3rd Baronet Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Viticulturists 1940 births 2015 deaths Afrikaner people Government ministers of South Africa

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Stellenbosch University alumni Grenoble Alpes University alumni Politicians from Cape Town Businesspeople from Cape Town National Party (South Africa) politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1994–1999