Rinze Visser, the longest-serving municipal councillor in the Netherlands, died on 16 October, aged 87, in Lemmer. The family announced a quiet death, in his sleep, after a period of illness. For more than 55 years he was the voice of the CPN, then the NCPN, in Lemsterland and, after the merger, in De Fryske Marren.

He was born on 18 December 1938, in a fishing family. He worked as a fisherman, bricklayer and paver. In 1970 he entered the council. He was installed fourteen times. In the 1970s he also sat in the Frisian provincial assembly. When the CPN moved toward dissolution, he kept a communist line and helped found the NCPN.

Health, mainly COPD, took him out of the chamber. His last meeting was at the end of 2025. In February 2026 he gave up the seat. With him, the NCPN left the Fryske Marren council. In September 2025 he had received the municipality's medal of honour for 55 years.

NOS called him Fryslân's oldest communist and the country's longest-serving councillor. Groot de Fryske Marren matches the same death and the same record. This is not a conviction and not a party fight: it is a death, announced by the family.

The cremation is private. Condolences are on 21 October at the Papagenohuis in Lemmer. For many, Visser remained the man you went to for paperwork and for a wrong.

Lemmer is a harbour. Visser was, for half a century, the councillor of that harbour. The seat has been empty since February. Now the man is gone too.

Image: Jan Dijkstra, Lemmer harbour, Friesland, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; the town, not a Visser family photograph.

Sources consulted: Fryslans oldest communist and longest-serving councillor Rinze Visser (87) has died - NOS; Rinze Visser (87) died: more than 55 years a familiar face on the council - Groot de Fryske Marren.