FILE - FDP politician Wolfgang Gerhardt, then Chairman of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation is pictured in Berlin, on Nov. 15, 2009. 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. FILE - FDP politician Wolfgang Gerhardt, then Chairman of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation is pictured in Berlin, on Nov. 15, 2009.
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 currentGerhardt 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.