Berlin:
Officials announced that former President of Germany, Horst Kohaler, who served as the head of the state from 2004 to 2010, died on Saturday at the age of 81.
“With the death of Horst Kohlar, we have lost a highly respected and highly popular person who has achieved great things in our country and the world,” President Frank-Walter Steinmier said in a letter to the widow of Horst Kohlar.
Horst Kohler, an economist, was the first German President by training who was not a career politician. He was the head of the International Monetary Fund in Washington before becoming President.
He became the German President, mostly a formal role, followed by the then opposition leader Angela Merkel, who went to become a Chancellor.
He was elected for a second term in 2009, but resigned in May after criticizing comments on foreign German military missions next year.
He died in Berlin in the early hours of Saturday after the presidency.
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