Schaefer, 54, was discovered lifeless close to a railway observe on Saturday. The Wiesbaden prosecution’s workplace stated they consider he died by suicide.
“We’re in shock, we’re in disbelief and above all we’re immensely unhappy,” Bouffier stated in a recorded assertion.
Hesse is house to Germany’s monetary capital Frankfurt, the place main lenders like Deutsche Bank and Commerz bank have their headquarters. The European Central Bank can also be situated in Frankfurt.
A visibly shaken Bouffier recalled that Schaefer, who was Hesse’s finance chief for 10 years, had been working “day and night time” to assist corporations and staff cope with the financial affect of the pandemic.
“Right now we have now to imagine that he was deeply nervous,” stated Bouffier, an in depth ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“It’s exactly throughout this tough time that we might have wanted somebody like him,” he added.
In style and well-respected, Schaefer had lengthy been touted as a attainable successor to Bouffier.
Like Bouffier, Schaefer belonged to Merkel’s centre-right CDU social gathering.
He leaves behind a spouse and two youngsters.
