Eberhard Edzard van der Laan (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈeːbərˌɦɑrt ˈɛtsɑrt vɑn dər ˈlaːn]; (28 June 1955 – 5 October 2017) was a Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA). He was the Mayor of Amsterdam from 2010 to his death.

Van der Laan, a lawyer by occupation, worked for the Trenité Van Doorne Advocaten law firm from 1982 until 1992 when he co-founded the Kennedy Van der Laan law firm and served as a Partner until 2008. After Ella Vogelaar the Minister for Housing, Communities and Integration in the Cabinet Balkenende IV resigned after the Leader of the Labour Party Wouter Bos lost his confidence for her position after increasing criticism on her performance, Van der Laan was asked to succeed her as Minister for Housing, Communities and Integration and took office on 14 November 2008. The Cabinet Balkenende IV fell on 23 February 2010 as the result of disagreement between the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the Labour Party over the extension of ISAF mission in Afghanistan. On 27 January 2017 it was revealed that he had terminal lung cancer. On 18 September 2017 Van der Laan published a letter to Dear Amsterdammers in which he revealed that all options of treatment had been exhausted and that, with immediate effect, he would step down from office - although remaining mayor - with mayoral tasks being taken up by Kajsa Ollongren.

Early life

Van der Laan graduated in 1983 cum laude in law at the VU University Amsterdam in Amsterdam. He co-founded the law firm Kennedy Van der Laan.

Politics

Local politics

He started his political career as assistant to Amsterdam alderman Jan Schaefer. From 1990-98 he was a member of the Amsterdam municipal council, from 1993 as the chair of the Labour Party group. After leaving politics he became a full-time lawyer.

National politics

On 14 November 2008 he succeeded Ella Vogelaar as Minister for Housing, Communities and Integration in the Cabinet Balkenende IV. In the local elections, politicians were criticized by Van der Laan for distributing election leaflets in minority languages and in some cases leaflets were collected. Due to this stance he was labeled a hypocrite by his own Labour Party party's main candidate. In 2006 he was informateur in the negotiations of the new Amsterdam Executive Board. On 23 June 2010 he was nominated by the Amsterdam municipal council to become Mayor of Amsterdam. This nomination is subject to Royal assent.

Cancer

On 27 January 2017 it was revealed that Van der Laan had metastatic lung cancer. He died on 5 October 2017 from this disease.