Ferenc Mádl

Ferenc Mádl [ fɛrɛnʦ ma ː dl ] ( born January 29, 1931 in Bánd, † 29 May, 2011 Budapest) was a Hungarian president and law professor.

Career

University career

Mádl, a German-born Hungarian, studied in Pécs, Budapest and Strasbourg law.

He initially worked as an employee of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences ( MTA). Since 1971 he has held a chair at the Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest (first as a lecturer, then from 1973 to 2000 as a professor ). His specialty is the international civil law. Between 1985 and 2000 he was Head of Department. He was active in many universities as a visiting professor (eg in Munich). He was a member of the MTA since 1987. He became a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1989.

Political career

Politically, he was active until 1990. The then Prime Minister József Antall appointed him as Minister without Portfolio. His job was to lead the science policy of the government. He was appointed Minister of Culture and Education (until 1994) 1993. 1995 nominated the then opposition parties the non-party law professor to the office of President. He lost to the incumbent head of state Árpád Göncz ( the President elect the parliament ). In 2000 he was elected in the third ballot for the third Head of State of Hungary after 1990. He was inaugurated on August 4.

Mádl was not available for a second term. For his successor, the Parliament Speaker Katalin Szili and former President of the Hungarian Constitutional Court, Laszlo Solyom were nominated. The presidential election in parliament was held on June 6 and 7 June, Laszlo Solyom sat down by a small majority. Mádl handed over office on 5 August 2005.

Since then, he taught again at the Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest.

He left behind his wife, their son and three grandchildren.