Guido Westerwelle

Guido Westerwelle’s Cause Of Death; Full Details

Guido Westerwelle left a significant impact on German politics as the first openly gay person to hold the positions of Foreign Minister and Vice-Chancellor.

His leadership in the FDP and time in government will be remembered for his focus on education and economics, as well as his contributions to foreign policy and human rights advocacy.

In today’s article, we take a look into his life as we find out more about him as well as his cause of death.

Guido Westerwelle’s Biography

Guido Westerwelle was a German politician who served as foreign minister in the second cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel and Vice-Chancellor of Germany from 2009 to 2011.

He also served as the leader of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 2001 until his resignation in 2011. He was a member of the Bundestag from 1996 to 2013. He is a lawyer by profession.

Guido Westerwelle was born on December 27, 1961, in Bad Honnef, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. His parents were lawyers, which most likely affected his future legal and political careers.

Westerwelle graduated from Ernst Moritz Arndt Gymnasium in 1980 despite academic difficulties in his early years. He then studied law at the University of Bonn, where he received his law degree and passed the First and Second State Law Examinations.

Westerwelle began practising law in Bonn in 1991, after finishing his study. His interest in politics, however, prompted him to join the Free Democratic Party (FDP) in 1980.

He joined the Junge Liberale (Young Liberals), the party’s official youth organisation, and was its chairman from 1983 to 1988. During his tenure as chairman, he pushed the FDP to take a more aggressive stance on matters such as tax evasion and nuclear power.

When Westerwelle was chosen secretary general of the FDP in 1994, his political career took off. He was elected to the Bundestag, Germany’s federal parliament, two years later, to fill the seat of a resigned member.

He was re-elected in the national elections of 1998 and was instrumental in obtaining German citizenship for children born in the country to non-German parents.

Westerwelle took over as FDP chairman in 2001, following Wolfgang Gerhardt. Under his leadership, the party prioritised economic and educational problems, which helped them earn significant success in the 2009 federal elections.

Westerwelle pledged his party’s support for a coalition with Chancellor Merkel’s CDU/CSU, becoming Germany’s Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister.

Westerwelle had an important role in German foreign policy as Foreign Minister, leading the German mission to the United Nations Security Council and successfully pushing for a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council.

His stint as party chairman, however, was not without controversy, with some accusing him of putting public relations ahead of effective policymaking.

Westerwelle was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia in 2014. He was treated with chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, but his condition deteriorated over time.

Westerwelle publicly discussed his fight with blood cancer in the book “Between Two Lives” before he died on March 18, 2016, at the age of 54, in Cologne.

Guido Westerwelle’s Cause Of Death

Guido Westerwelle’s cause of death is reported to have been due to acute myeloid leukaemia which led to his death on March 18, 2016, at the age of 54.

References

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