Pretoria - Veteran Pretoria attorney Konrad Martin Rontgen has died following an an operation.
His son, Konrad Rontgen jr, said his 89-year-old father fell last week and broke his femur.
“He was operated on, but it was just too much for his body,” his son said. He died on Monday.
The father and son team established their own law firm in 2006 after many years of working with other great legal minds in the country.
Rontgen jr said that after the death of his mother last year, his father never had the same quality of life.
The couple were married for 64 years and were inseparable.
Rontgen sr, who was known as Koenie Rontgen, was born on June 13, 1933, in Frankfort in the Free State. According to his son, he grew up in poverty.
He and his family later moved to Crosby in Joburg, where he completed his high school and was head prefect.
After school he moved to the Cape, where he worked at the tobacco company Rembrandt. It was during this time that he decided to become an attorney.
He studied law through Unisa and did his articleship at law firm Melamet in Joburg. He opened his first law firm in Joburg in the 1950s.
The son said his father had been highly regarded as a jurist, and on various occasions he paved the way for law that was still quoted in courts. He also made various appearances in the Constitutional Court. “He feared nothing,” Konrad jr said.
Apart from his love for the law, he loved farming. He was at one stage a leading sunflower farmer, something he managed in between managing his practice.
As a young man – from 1966 to 1976 – Rontgen sr also raced speedboats. This was such a passion that he had obtained his Springbok colours on three occasions.
He also represented South Africa abroad in speed racing, and was president of the speedboat association for many years.
Even at an advanced age, Rontgen sr was still often seen at court, where he fiercely argued cases on behalf of his clients.
Pretoria News