Pieter Droogleever Fortuyn

Pieter Droogleever Fortuyn (28 December 1868 – 6 September 1938) was a wealthy Dutch businessman and liberal municipal administrator from an old patrician family, in the first half of the 20th century.

After grammar school, he studied law in Leiden, which was concluded in 1894. After having been a lawyer and bank manager, he became an alderman for public housing in The Hague. In that position, he advocated, among other things, the construction of the Zuiderpark. He became a member of the House of Representatives in 1925 and in 1928 he succeeded the suddenly deceased Johannes Wytema as mayor of Rotterdam. At the same time, he was also a member of the Senate for three years, until his death in 1938, a combination of functions that were not uncommon until the 1960s. He was highly respected by political opponents in both The Hague and Rotterdam. As VNG chairman he was a powerful fighter for municipal autonomy.

He was also a football enthusiast, being one of the founders of what would later become the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), which he served as a chairman in 1892–93. In 1937 he kicked off the first game in De Kuip, after he had already opened the Zuiderpark Stadion with a kick-off in 1925.