Josef Ertl

Josef Ertl was a German politician of the Free Democratic Party, born 7 March 1925 in Munich and died 16 November 2000 in Murnau, who earned a degree in agriculture from the Technical University of Munich in 1952 and led the Bavarian FDP from 1971 to 1983. A Bundestag member from 1961 to 1987, he served as Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Forestry almost continuously from October 1969 to March 1983, spanning the chancellorships of Willy Brandt, Helmut Schmidt and Helmut Kohl and interrupted only by Bjorn Engholm's brief 1982 tenure. He later served as president of the German Agricultural Society from 1984 to 1990 and of the German Ski Association from 1978 to 1991, and died from complications of burn injuries sustained in a farm accident.