Alfred Herrhausen (* January 30, 1930 in Essen; † November 30, 1989 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe) was a German bank manager and spokesman for the board of Deutsche Bank.
Under his leadership, Deutsche Bank rose to the top group of international commercial banks through strategic restructuring and acquisitions.
He gave the bank a new corporate structure that lasted a long time and made it the undisputed market leader in West Germany.
Herrhausen was considered an exceptional figure among top German managers, both professionally and personally.
Many observers emphasized his intellectual, oratorical and entrepreneurial brilliance, although his often unconventional concepts and ideas often provoked criticism from fellow board members and the banking world.
He emphasized that banks had to use their power responsibly and called for more transparency.
In 1987 and 1988, his calls for economically and ethically justified debt relief for highly indebted developing countries met with massive resistance from the international financial world.
Herrhausen died in a bomb attack directed against him.
The day after the murder, around ten thousand people marched in silence through Frankfurt's banking district.
A letter of confession from the left-wing terrorist Red Army Faction (RAF) was found at the crime scene, but the perpetrators could not be identified; all those accused by the public prosecutor were acquitted or the case was dropped.
Since 2004, therefore, only unknown persons have been investigated.
(Source: Wikipedia)