Personal Information

I was born and grew up in Schwelm, a small town in North Rhine-Westphalia south of the Ruhrgebiet and east of Cologne. After graduating from the Märkisches Gymnasium (Abitur) in 1967 and serving in the German army for 18 months I studied at Bochum University for four years and obtained a master's degree in mathematics with economics as my second subject. My academic career took me to Bonn, Augsburg and Berlin, with many short to medium visits to academic places all around the world. I spent almost half a year in Sao Paulo, Brazil and - summing up my three medium term stays - about a year at Cornell University in Ithaca.

I married in 1976. My wife Iris has been a high school teacher (mathematics and economics) in Bonn, Augsburg, and Berlin. She gave up teaching and - after taking a couple of courses - now enjoys her work as a free-lance city guide in Berlin.

We enjoy living in Berlin, an exciting city that has surprises for everybody almost every day. We love to travel and explore the history, culture, and geography of foreign countries, like to go to theaters, concerts, museums, and the like and try to keep up a few sports activities.

My wife and I have three wonderful daughters, Andrea, Bettina, and Claudia born in 1979, 1982, and 1984.