A former President of Germany, who also served as head of state from 2004 to 2010, Horst Koehler,  is dead.

Officials in the presidency announced  that Koehler died today in Berlin at the age of 81 after a brief illness.

Before Koehler’s tenure as German president, he held several prominent international positions, including serving as the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund from 2000 to 2004.

Köhler resigned as Germany’s president in 2010 following controversy over remarks he made about Germany’s military engagements.

Horst Köhler was born on February 22, 1943, in Skierbieszów, which was then part of Nazii-occupied Poland.

His family was of German descent and later resettled in Leipzig, East Germany, before fleeing to West Germany in 1953.

Köhler grew up in Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg. He studied economics and political science at the University of Tübingen, earning a doctorate in economics in 1977

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