Jan Willem de Pous (23 January 1920 – 6 January 1996) was a Dutch politician of the defunctChristian Historical Union (CHU) party now merged into theChristian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and economist.[1]
De Pous attended theAmsterdams Lyceum from June 1935 until June 1938 and applied at theUniversity of Amsterdam in June 1939majoring inEconomics and obtaining aBachelor of Economics degree before leaving the University during theGerman occupation in April 1942 and joined theDutch resistance against theGerman occupiers and worked as a journalist for theunderground newspaperTrouw from April 1942 until January 1946. Following the end ofWorld War II De Pous returned to theUniversity of Amsterdam in July 1945 and also worked as a researcher before graduating with aMaster of Economics degree in July 1947. De Pous applied at theNorthwestern University inEvanston, Illinois in July 1947 for apostgraduate education and obtained aMaster of Financial Economics degree in November 1949. De Pous worked as a trade association executive for theChristian Employers' association (NCW) served as General-Secretary from 1 November 1949 until 1 January 1953 and as an associate professor ofPublic economics at the University of Amsterdam from 1 January 1953 until 1 December 1958. On 8 October 1958 De Pous was nominated asMember of the Council of State, taking office on 1 December 1958. After theelection of 1959 De Pous was appointed asMinister of Economic Affairs in theCabinet De Quay, taking office on 19 May 1959. In February 1963 De Pous announced that he would not stand for theelection of 1963. Following thecabinet formation of 1963 De Pous was not giving a cabinet post in the newcabinet, the Cabinet De Quay was replaced by theCabinet Marijnen on 24 July 1963.
De Pous remained in active politics, in April 1964 De Pous was nominated asChairman of the Social and Economic Council (SER), serving from 1 May 1964 until 1 February 1985. De Pous also became active in theprivate sector andpublic sector and occupied numerous seats as a corporate director and nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards (Overloon War Museum,Institute for Multiparty Democracy,ProDemos and theInternational Institute of Social History) and served on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government (Cals-Donner Commission,Mijnraad,Raad voor Cultuur andStichting Pensioenfonds ABP).
| Honours | ||||
| Ribbon bar | Honour | Country | Date | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Knight of theOrder of the Netherlands Lion | Netherlands | 27 July 1963 | |
 | Grand Officer of theOrder of Orange-Nassau | Netherlands | 1 February 1985 | Elevated from Commander (30 April 1974) |
| Honorary degrees | ||||
| University | Field | Country | Date | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tilburg University | Economics | Netherlands | 24 November 1977 | |
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Economic Affairs 1959–1963 | Succeeded by |
| Civic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Social and Economic Council 1964–1985 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Mine Council 1968–1986 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chairman of the Supervisory board of Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP 1980–1988 | Succeeded by |
| Business positions | ||
| Preceded by | General-Secretary of the Christian Employers' association 1949–1953 | Unknown |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
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