The former president of the German Bundesbank, Helmut Schlesinger, has died at the age of 100, the central bank in Frankfurt announced on Friday.
The Bavarian native died on Monday, the institution said, in honor of Schlesinger’s efforts for a stable Deutsche Mark in the post-war years and the international recognition this brought him.
Helmut Schlesinger’s actions always followed clear and firm lines with the goal of monetary stability, Bundesbank President Joachim Nagel said in a tribute to his predecessor.
“In his more than 41 years at the Bundesbank, he made a major contribution to creating the… [Deutschmark] one of the most stable currencies in the world and also the anchor of stability in the subsequent European Monetary System,” said Nagel.
Despite his long career, Schlesinger only headed the central bank briefly from August 1, 1991 to September 30, 1993, as his term of office was limited from the start due to his old age.
Born in 1924 in the town of Penzberg, Schlesinger steadily rose to the top job.
After working at the Ifo Institute for Economic Research in Munich, he joined the Bank Deutscher Länder, the predecessor of the Bundesbank, in 1952, where he played an important role in building the central bank.
In 1980, Schlesinger became vice-president and in 1991 he finally succeeded Karl Otto Pöhl as president of the Bundesbank.
He had been married to his wife Carola since 1949, with whom he had four children.
