Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F083630-0020, Bonn, Karl Otto Pöhl auf Pressekonferenz

Karl Otto Pöhl (1 December 1929 – 9 December 2014) was a German economist and a President of the

Bundesbank The Deutsche Bundesbank (), literally "German Federal Bank", is the central bank of the Federal Republic of Germany and as such part of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB). Due to its strength and former size, the Bundesbank is the mos ...

and Chairman of its Central Bank Council from 1980 to 1991. Born in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, Pöhl worked as a sports reporter to help pay his way through the

Georg August University of Göttingen Georg may refer to: * ''Georg'' (film), 1997 *Georg (musical), Estonian musical * Georg (given name) * Georg (surname) George is a surname of Irish, English, Welsh, South Indian Christian, Middle Eastern Christian (usually Lebanese), French, or ...

. A graduate economist, he became a researcher and department head of the publications department at the Ifo Institute for Economic Research in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. In the 1960s he worked as an economic journalist in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

until the Social Democratic Party of Germany won the 1969 national election. He then was employed by the Federal government's Economics Ministry and then the Finance Ministry. During the 1970s and 1980s, Pöhl was the driving force behind German efforts to get Europe's rampant inflation under control and to lay the framework for broad monetary cooperation among industrialized countries. He is referred to as one of the fathers of the

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

. Pöhl was a partner in Sal. Oppenheim Jr. & Cie., a German private investment bank and a member of the Advisory Board of the

Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group is a multinational private equity, alternative asset management and financial services corporation based in the United States with $376 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, real assets, and ...

. He had also been a member of the influential Washington-based financial advisory body, the

Group of Thirty The Group of Thirty, often abbreviated to G30, is an international body of financiers and academics which aims to deepen understanding of economic and financial issues and to examine consequences of decisions made in the public and private sec ...

since 1992. He sat on the advisory boards of

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

Gulfstream The Gulf Stream is a warm Atlantic Ocean current. Gulf Stream or Gulfstream may also refer to: Places *Gulf Stream, Florida, a town in the United States Art, entertainment, and media *''Gulf Stream Magazine'', a literary magazine at Florida Intern ...

, GAMCO, VW, Barrick Gold,

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

and

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

. Karl Otto Pöhl was married, had 4 children and lived in Zurich. He died on 9 December 2014 at the age of 85.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pohl, Karl Otto 1929 births 2014 deaths Businesspeople from Hanover Presidents of the Deutsche Bundesbank Waldorf school alumni The Carlyle Group people Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany German chief executives