Someone who {shaped / has shaped / had shaped} policy for 20 years

First a little history before I pose my question. Without this history my question may not fully make sense.

King Fahd of Saudi Arabia had a stroke in 1995. After this stroke, Crown Prince Abdullah governed in the king's name for about ten years, after which Abdullah officially ascended to the throne until his (Abdullah's) recent death (in January 2015).

An online opinion article referring to Abdullah's reign wrote this:

Since his death on Friday at age 90 and his succession by his half-brother Salman, Abdullah has been praised as a cautious reformer and shrewd politician who shaped Saudi policy for nearly 20 years, after his predecessor had a stroke and Abdullah ruled as crown prince in the king’s name.

My first question: Should the writer instead of writing "who shaped" (past tense) have written "who has shaped" (present perfect) when referring to the recently deceased Abdullah? Or perhaps because Abdullah has died, the writer should have written "had shaped" (past perfect). What's your opinion?

My second question: Since Fahd's stroke occurred before Abdullah's taking power, shouldn't the writer have written "had had a stroke" (past perfect)?

Solution 1:

The main clause, which the since phrase modifies, is

Abdullah has been praised ...

That is, the praise has occurred since Abdullah's death: the present perfect is proper.

The sentence moves on to describe what Abdullah has been been praised as. Since this reflects a present perspective on his past accomplishments, casting it in the simple past is fine.

... praised as a cautious reformer who shaped ...

A past perfect would also be acceptable, indicating what Abdullah had accomplished at the time of this death.

... praised as a cautious reformer who had shaped ...

But a present perfect is unacceptable: the present perfect speaks of a present state, and a dead person cannot 'participate' in that state.

The prior eventuality of Fahd's stroke might with propriety have been expressed with a past perfect, but the simple past is also unexceptionable—and simpler:

After his predecessor had a stroke Abdullah shaped Saudi policy for 20 years.