Frankfurt, Germany – The former president of Germany’s Bundesbank, Helmut Schlesinger, has died at the age of 100, the central bank in Frankfurt said on Friday.
The native Bavarian passed on Monday, the institution said, honouring Schlesinger’s commitment to a stable Deutschmark in the post-war years and the international recognition this earned 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 great contribution to making the [Deutschmark] one of the world’s most stable currencies and also the anchor of stability in the subsequent European Monetary System,” Nagel said.
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 outset due to his advanced age.
Born in 1924 in the town of Penzberg, Schlesinger steadily made his way up to the top job.
After working at Munich’s Ifo Institute for Economic Research, he joined the Bank deutscher Länder, the predecessor of the Bundesbank, in 1952 and was then instrumental in building up the central bank.
In 1980, Schlesinger became its vice president and finally succeeded Karl Otto Pöhl as president of the Bundesbank in 1991.
He had been married to his wife Carola, with whom he had four children, since 1949.