Roman Herzog Term of Office: July 1, 1994 - June 30, 1999 Predecessor: Richard von Weizsäcker Successor: Johannes Rau Date of Birth: April 5, 1934 Place of Birth: Landshut Profession: lawyer Political party: CDU

Prof. Dr. jur. Roman Herzog (born April 5, 1934) is a German politician (CDU) and was President of Germany from 1994 to 1999.

Roman Herzog was born in Landshut. He studied law in Munich and took his first juristic state exam in 1957. In 1958, he gained the title Dr.jur. and worked as an assistant at the University of Munich until 1964, where he also passed his second juristic state exam. For his paper Die Wesensmerkmale der Staatsorganisation in rechlicher und entwicklungsgeschichtlicher Sicht ("Characteristics of State Organization from a Juristic and Developmental-Historical Viewpoint"), he was awarded the title of professor in 1964, a title of academic distinction in Germany and taught at the University of Munich until 1966. From 1966 he taught state law and political science as a full professor at the Free University of Berlin. In 1969 he accepted a position at the college for administration in Speyer and was the University President from 1971-1972.

In 1973 his political career began as a representative of the state (Land) of Rheinland-Pfalz with the Federal government in Bonn. He was minister for culture and sports in the Baden-Württemberg State Government from 1978. In 1980 he was elected to the State Parliament (Landtag), and took over the state Ministry of the Interior.

Roman Herzog was also always active in the Protestant Church. Until 1980 he was head of the Chamber for public responsibility of the Protestant Church of Germany and since 1982 he has been a member of the synod of the Protestant Church of Germany.

In 1983 he became vice president of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany in Karlsruhe, which he presided over from 1987 to 1994, when he was elected President of Germany by the Federal Assembly (Bundesversammlung). He retained this position until 1999, when he was succeeded by Johannes Rau.