Kurt Biedenkopf

Kurt Hans Biedenkopf (; 28 January 1930 – 12 August 2021) was a German jurist, academic teacher and politician of the Christian-Democratic Union (CDU). He was rector of the Ruhr University Bochum. Biedenkopf made a political career first in North Rhine-Westphalia, where he was chairman of the party. After the re-unification of Germany, he served as the first Minister President of the Free State of Saxony from 1990 until 2002. He was 54th president of the Bundesrat from 2000, overseeing the body's move from Bonn to Berlin. Biedenkopf is regarded as the intellectual leader of the CDU when Helmut Kohl was chancellor. Biedenkopf worked on advisory boards of institutions including the Bertelsmann Stiftung, Deutsche Nationalstiftung, Dresden Frauenkirche, Independent Commission on Turkey and the Staatliche Porzellan-Manufaktur Meissen. Among his numerous recognitions were international honorific doctorates. Early life and science Biedenkopf was born in Ludwigshafen am Rhein. When his father became technical director of the Buna-Werke, the family moved to Schkopau, where he attended school. Biedenkopf first studied political sciences from 1949 to 1950 at the Davidson College in North Carolina and at Georgetown University. He then studied economics and law in Germany at the University of Munich, achieving a law doctorate in 1958. He obtained a Master in Law in 1962 from Georgetown University, where he studied and researched again from 1958 to 1959 and 1961 to 1962. In 1963 Biedenkopf completed his habilitation at Goethe University Frankfurt. He became lecturer of the Ruhr University Bochum in 1964. In 1967, he was appointed rector of the university; he was the youngest head of a university in West Germany at the time. He was lecturer and visiting professor also at the Goethe University Frankfurt and Leipzig University. In the early 1970s, Biedenkopf moved to the board of Henkel.