his Third Way and polder model philosophies and for the success of leading his Purple Coalitions. During his premiership, his cabinets were responsible for implementing several social reforms, legalizing same-sex marriage and euthanasia, stimulating the economy resulting in more employment and privatization and further reducing the deficit. As a result of this, and because of his skills as manager and negotiator, Kok was praised by his fellow European leaders. After politics After his premiership, Kok retired from active politics at the age of sixty-three and became a lobbyist for the European Union and presided over several "high-level groups". He also occupied numerous seats on supervisory boards in the business and industry world (ING Group, Koninklijke TNT Post, Royal Dutch Shell, KLM, Stork B.V., International Commission on Missing Persons, International Crisis Group, Anne Frank Foundation and served as president of the Club of Madrid from 2009 until December 2013). On 11 April 2003, he was granted the honorary title of Minister of State. Lisbon Strategy Between April and November 2004, Kok headed up a review of the Lisbon Strategy and presented a report containing suggestions on how to give new impetus to the Lisbon process. The European Commission used this report to declare that the social and environmental parts are no longer a priority and declared a return to the Lisbon Agenda under economic terms only. Kok lobbied for the Lisbon Strategy of the European Commission and was appointed to the Honorary Board of the European Association of History Educators. Between 2006 and 2007, Kok served as member of the Amato Group, a group of high-level European politicians unofficially working on rewriting the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe into what became known as the Treaty of Lisbon following its rejection by French and Dutch voters. Personal In 1965, after four years of dating, Kok married Margrietha Lummechiena "Rita" Roukema (born 3 November 1939). He adopted her two children from a previous marriage, daughter Carla (born 1959) and son André (born 1961 and died March 30, 2022), who was mentally disabled, and together they had a third child, son Marcel (born 1966). Death Kok died on 20 October 2018 in Amsterdam, aged 80. Decorations Honorary degrees References External links Official W. (Wim) Kok Parlement & Politiek Kabinet-Kok I Rijksoverheid Kabinet-Kok II Rijksoverheid Other Collectie Interviews Wim Kok at the International Institute of Social History |- |- |- |- |- |- |-