A once prominent liberal Democrat politician in Germany has passed away.

Wolfgang Gerhardt, the former leader of the pro-business Free Democrats Party, died on Friday at the age of 80, according to the Associated Press.

He served as the chairman of the national party for several years in the late 1990s and led the party's members in Germany's parliament for several years after that in the early 2000s.

"We are indebted to him"

The news about Gerhardt's death was announced by the current head of the Free Democrats Party, Christian Lindner, who wrote in a translated X post, "Wolfgang Gerhardt shaped liberalism in Germany for many decades. We will keep an honorable memory of him as @fdp."

In an attached statement, according to Die Presse, Linder said of Gerhardt, "He was never a politician of power, but also remained a literate, subtle and generous person in top positions. In a difficult phase of our history, he held the FDP together and erected it again. We are indebted to him."

"Throughout his life, Wolfgang Gerhardt has promoted self-responsibility and independent judgment. Fair educational opportunities were a minced concern for him," he added.

Served regionally and nationally for decades

Die Presse reported that Gerhardt became involved in politics in his home state of Hesse and served as an elected representative in the state-level parliament in Wiesbaden from 1978 until 1994.

During that time, he served briefly in 1987 as the Minister of Science and Deputy Prime Minister before returning to serve in the Hessian government.

In 1994, Gerhardt was elected to the national Bundestag, and though he reportedly aimed to become Germany's Foreign Minister, he fell short of that goal after his party failed to gain majority control in 2002.

Meanwhile, while serving in the Bundestag, Gerhardt was named the chairman of the FDP from 1995 until 2001, and similarly served as the FDP's chair in the Bundestag from 1998 until 2006, with fellow party member Guido Westerwelle succeeding him in both roles.

Once campaigned against his opponents while on vacation in the Mediterranean

According to Mallorca Zeitung, the German politician once caused a bit of controversy while vacationing in the Spanish-controlled Mediterranean island and tourist destination.

In 1998, during a re-election campaign, Gerhardt went to the island that is popular with German tourists and pasted a campaign message on a large billboard that said, "Beautiful holidays!" and added, "And not only every five years -- as the Greens think."

That was a swipe against his socialist political opposition who had urged the German people to only take flights for vacations every five years in order to save the environment.

However, his action did not go over particularly well with local residents who off-put by the foreign politician campaigning on their island and viewed it as an encroachment by Germany on their regional autonomy.