Rinus Ferdinandusse, former editor-in-chief of Free Netherlands and writer, died on Saturday at the age of ninety in his home in Amsterdam. His two daughters and wife informed the ANP news agency. Ferdinandusse became an editor at . in 1959 by accident Free Netherlands. Ten years later he was editor-in-chief. Although in that position in their own words had nothing to say, the magazine experienced its glory days under his leadership. He also has 24 novels under his name.
Ferdinandusse was raised in a Protestant environment, as the son of an accountant. At the age of eight, the family moved from Goes in Zeeland to The Hague, for father’s new job at the Ministry of Agriculture. Ferdinandusse chose to study at the Political Social Faculty in Amsterdam in 1955. Nevertheless, at that time his attention was mainly focused on the art of humor — which took shape when he founded the Haags Studentencabaret.
While he was achieving success with his colleagues from the student cabaret, his studies came to a standstill. In 1959 Ferdinandusse learned that she Free Netherlands was looking for someone who could cut pieces from foreign newspapers for a new press section, he told the magazine in 2010. During the job interview it turned out that then editor-in-chief Mathieu Smedts assumed that Ferdinandusse wanted to become an editor. He wanted that too. He started immediately.
‘The newspaper of the Netherlands
When Ferdinandusse was editor-in-chief of Free Netherlands the newspaper grew to a circulation of nearly 120,000. Between 1970 and 1985 it was “the newspaper of the Netherlands”, according to himself. Ferdinandusse did not consider that to be his own merit. “There was little to direct. All the editors were eager to work hard for that newspaper. UN was something at that time. In the 1970s, every student walked with a UN in his pocket.”
In 1991 Ferdinandusse stepped down as editor-in-chief of Free Netherlands. The newspaper was already struggling with declining circulation and internal conflict. Ferdinandusse continued to work for it until his retirement in 1996; including the Detective and Thrillergids, which he had devised as a great lover and writer of thrillers. His own thriller Naked over the fence (1966) was best received: it became a bestseller and was rewarded with a film adaptation in 1973.