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"Nelson Mandela, an icon of peace and forgiveness around the world, has died. He's a man former Gov. Bill Richardson had the pleasure of knowing.\"In the late '90s when I was U.N. ambassador, I was negotiating the Congo civil war, and he actually helped me,\" Richardson recalls.\u00A0\"He's one of the world's great statesmen. It's a huge void that he's gone.\"\"He was very gracious, very kind, very quiet, loving guy. He was a guy that was 27 years in prison, and he had no hatred toward anybody.\"We spoke to the governor about his memories of Mandela at his book signing in the North Valley Thursday at Book Works.VIDEO:\u00A0Bill Richardson remembers Nelson MandelaRichardson -- who recently wrote \"How To Sweet-Talk A Shark\" -- says Mandela is probably the \"greatest person\" he's ever met.He remembers once overhearing Mandela call the woman who would become his wife, and recalls how sweetly Mandela spoke to her.\"I could hear him say, 'Oh my love how are you? I have to go into a very tough negotiation but I wanted to talk to you before.'\"Coincidentally, the book Richardson wrote and was signing Thursday night is about negotiations. And it was through a negotiation that he was able to meet Nelson Mandela. There's even mentions of Mandela in Richardson's book.\" gentle man, a gentle giant, who's probably the world's greatest statesman,\" Richardson says."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.koat.com/article/bill-richardson-remembers-nelson-mandela-1/5052681>