Sep. 13, 2024 07:17 AM EST

Wolfgang Gerhardt, Who Led Germany's Pro-Business Free Democrats, Dies At 80

FILE - FDP politician Wolfgang Gerhardt, then Chairman of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation is pictured in Berlin, on Nov. 15, 2009. (Karlheinz Schindler/dpa via AP, File) Karlheinz Schindler, ASSOCIATED PRESS
FILE - FDP politician Wolfgang Gerhardt, then Chairman of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation is pictured in Berlin, on Nov. 15, 2009. (Karlheinz Schindler/dpa via AP, File)
FILE - The former federal chairman of the FDP, Wolfgang Gerhardt, addresses the delegates at the FDP state party conference in Hesse, Germany, on June 19, 2010. (Uwe Zucchi/dpa via AP, File)
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BERLIN (AP) — Wolfgang Gerhardt, a politician who led Germany's pro-business Free Democrats from 1995 to 2001, died on Friday at the age of 80.

Gerhardt's death was announced by Christian Lindner, the current head of the Free Democrats, a small party that has been a coalition partner in several German governments, including the current three-party coalition led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in which he served as finance minister.

Gerhardt was party chairman from 1995 to 2001 and chairman of its group in parliament from 1998 to 2006.

“He was never a power politician, but remained a well-read, fine and generous person even in top positions," Lindner said in tribute.

He credited Gerhardt with holding the party together through a difficult phase in its history.

"We owe him a great deal of gratitude,” he said.

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