> Professor in the mathematics department of the Eindhoven University of Technology from 1962-1973. (As I understand, the "external funding" thing is less of a problem in mathematics. Also, I have no idea how tenure works there.)

Back then, i think full professors were appointed by the Queen. (Certainly so for Beatrix, but he became a prof before her inauguration)

Being appointed by the Queen made it really difficult to fire you - one of the reasons (I was told) they stopped this practice.

Moreover, back then research funding worked very different from how it works now in .nl. Actually, I have some idea of how finding worked from the mid-90s on... but I've read that prior to early 80s, in .nl, most PhD students were part-time and not employed by the university.

Not sure how accurate that is. Irrespective of its accuracy, it's clear that academic life had changed drastically since then. (In .nl at least)