Thomas Schäfer (; 22 February 1966 – 28 March 2020) was a German lawyer and politician for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). He was Minister of Finance of

Hesse Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major historic cities are Dar ...

between 2010 and 2020.

Early life and education

Schäfer was born in

Hemer Hemer is a town in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Hemer is located at the north end of the Sauerland near the Ruhr river. The highest elevation, at 546 metres (1,791 ft), is in the ''Balver Wa ...

and grew up in

Biedenkopf Biedenkopf () is a spa town in western Hesse, Germany with a population of 13,491 (2020). Geography Location The town of Biedenkopf lies in the west of Marburg-Biedenkopf district. Ringed by mountains reaching up to above sea level – ...

. After completing the Abitur in 1985, he trained as a banker at the . He studied law at the

University of Marburg The Philipps University of Marburg (german: Philipps-Universität Marburg) was founded in 1527 by Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse, which makes it one of Germany's oldest universities and the oldest still operating Protestant university in the wor ...

, graduating in 1997. From 1995 to 1998, Schäfer taught private and public law at the in Marburg.Dr. Thomas Schäfer
(in German) Hessisches Finanzministerium From 1998 onward he worked as a lawyer for the Commerzbank in

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. In 1999, he earned a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

under the supervision of Werner Frotscher.

Political career

in 1980, Schäfer joined the CDU/ CSU youth organisation

Junge Union The Junge Union Deutschlands (''Young Union of Germany'') or JU is the joint youth organisation of the two conservative German political parties, CDU and CSU. Membership is limited to individuals between 14 and 35 years of age. Junge Union c ...

and was a board member from 1985 to 1999. After the

1999 Hessian state election The 1999 Hessian state election was held on 7 February 1999 to elect the members of the Landtag of Hesse. The incumbent coalition government of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and The Greens led by Minister-President Hans Eichel was defeated. Th ...

, Schäfer led the office of Christean Wagner, the minister of justice in

, and from 2002 the office of Minister President

Roland Koch Roland Koch (born 24 March 1958) is a German jurist and former conservative politician of the CDU. He was the 7th Minister President of Hesse from 7 April 1999, immediately becoming the 53rd President of the Bundesrat, completing the term beg ...

. From November 2005 until 2009, he was secretary of state for Jürgen Banzer, minister of labour, family and health. During the

financial crisis of 2007–08 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of f ...

, he coordinated state efforts to rescue Opel, based in

Rüsselsheim am Main Rüsselsheim am Main is the largest city in the Groß-Gerau district in the Rhein-Main region of Germany. It is one of seven special status cities (implementing several functions that counties normally provide) in Hessen and is located on the Mai ...

, in conjunction with the other three states where Opel had plants. In February 2009, he became secretary of state for , the minister of finance. In August 2010, Schäfer became Hesse's state minister of finance, the head of the , under the new minister president,

Volker Bouffier Volker Bouffier (born 18 December 1951) is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Minister President of the German state of Hessen from 31 August 2010 to 31 May 2022. From 1 November 2014 until 31 October 2015 ...

. He was a member of the Hessischer Landtag, the state parliament, from 2014 onward. In 2018, he was re-elected, this time directly. He was regarded as a likely successor to Bouffier. On 27 March 2020, he announced, together with the minister of economy,

Tarek Al-Wazir Tarek Mohammed Al-Wazir ( ar, طارق محمد الوزير; born 3 January 1971) is a politician in the German Green Party. Since January 2014 he has been deputy to the Hessian Minister-President, and Hessian Minister of Economics, Energy, T ...

, the state's financial help in the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

for freelancers and small businesses. Schäfer stated, "The fight against the Corona crisis will not fail because of money." ("")

Death

On the morning of 28 March 2020, his body was found next to the

Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line The Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed railway (german: Schnellfahrstrecke Köln–Rhein/Main) is a railway line in Germany, connecting the cities of Cologne and Frankfurt. Its route follows the Bundesautobahn 3 for the greater part, and currently the ...

near

Hochheim am Main Hochheim am Main (; Old English: Hockamore) is a town in the Main-Taunus district of the German state of Hesse. It is located near the right bank of the river Main three miles above its confluence with the Rhine, as well as on the German Timber- ...

, and police speculated that he had killed himself.German state finance minister Thomas Schäfer found dead
Deutsche Welle. 28 March 2020. Schäfer's death came "as a shock", as days prior he had expressed that his work was "a pleasure and an honour". He was known as a jovial man with good humor, though he had visibly lost weight for "some time". According to Bouffier, Schäfer was concerned about managing the financial response to the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identifie ...

. He was survived by his wife and two children. His successor as minister of finance is Michael Boddenberg.Amtseinführung / Michael Boddenberg wird neuer Finanzminister
(in German)

31 March 2020

References

External links

*
Dr. Thomas Schäfer
Landtag Hessen

(in German) 30 August 2010 '' Der Spiegel'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Schafer, Thomas 1966 births 2020 deaths Ministers of Finance of Hesse Ministers of the Hesse State Government Members of the Landtag of Hesse People from Marburg-Biedenkopf Christian Democratic Union of Germany politicians German bankers 20th-century German lawyers University of Marburg alumni 21st-century German politicians Suicides by train Suicides in Germany 2020 suicides