Thomas Schäfer (politician)
German politician (1966–2020)
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Thomas Schäfer (German: [ˈtoːmas ˈʃɛːfɐ]; 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 between 2010 and 2020.
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Thomas Schäfer | |
|---|---|
Thomas Schäfer in 2019 | |
| Minister of Finance in Hesse | |
| In office 31 August 2010 – 28 March 2020 | |
| Preceded by | Karlheinz Weimar |
| Succeeded by | Michael Boddenberg |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 22 February 1966 |
| Died | 28 March 2020 (aged 54) Hochheim am Main, Hesse, Germany |
| Party | CDU |
| University of Marburg | |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Early life and education
Schäfer was born in Hemer and grew up in Biedenkopf.[1] After completing the Abitur in 1985, he trained as a banker at the local savings bank.[1] He studied law at the University of Marburg, graduating in 1997.[1]
From 1995 to 1998, Schäfer taught private and public law at the Deutsche Angestellten-Akademie in Marburg.[1][2] From 1998 onward he worked as a lawyer for the Commerzbank in Frankfurt am Main.[1] In 1999, he earned a doctorate under the supervision of Werner Frotscher.[1]
Political career
in 1980, Schäfer joined the CDU/CSU youth organisation Junge Union and was a board member from 1985 to 1999.[3] After the 1999 Hessian state election, Schäfer led the office of Christean Wagner, the minister of justice in Hesse,[1][4] and from 2002 the office of Minister President Roland Koch.[1] From November 2005 until 2009, he was secretary of state for Jürgen Banzer, minister of labour, family and health.[2] During the 2008 financial crisis, he coordinated state efforts to rescue Opel, based in Rüsselsheim am Main, in conjunction with the other three states where Opel had plants.[3] In February 2009, he became secretary of state for Karlheinz Weimar, the minister of finance.[4]
In August 2010, Schäfer became Hesse's state minister of finance, the head of the Hessisches Ministerium der Finanzen, under the new minister president, Volker Bouffier. He was a member of the Hessischer Landtag, the state parliament, from 2014 onward.[2] In 2018, he was re-elected, this time directly.[4] He was regarded as a likely successor to Bouffier.[4][5]
On 27 March 2020, he announced, together with the minister of economy, Tarek Al-Wazir, the state's financial help in the COVID-19 pandemic for freelancers and small businesses. Schäfer stated, "The fight against the Corona crisis will not fail because of money." ("Am Geld wird die Bekämpfung der Corona-Krise nicht scheitern.")[3]
Death
On the morning of 28 March 2020, his body was found next to the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line near Hochheim am Main, and police speculated that he had killed himself.[6][7][8] 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".[5] According to Bouffier, Schäfer was concerned about managing the financial response to the coronavirus pandemic.[9][6] He was survived by his wife and two children.[10] His successor as minister of finance is Michael Boddenberg.[11]
