Edzard Hans Wilhelm Reuter (16 February 1928 – 27 October 2024) was a German businessman. He was the CEO of Daimler-Benz from 1987 to 1995.
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Early life
Edzard Reuter was born in Berlin on 15 February 1928. His father was the popular social democratic politician and later mayor of Berlin, from 1948 to 1953, Ernst Reuter. His mother Hanna Reuter née Kleinert was a secretary at the party newspaper Vorwärts. Under the Nazi regime, the family was forced to flee Germany; they found exile in Ankara, Turkey, where Reuter spent his childhood and youth. In 1946, Reuter joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD).
After returning to Germany in 1946, Reuter studied mathematics and theoretical physics at the University of Berlin, now known as Humboldt University of Berlin, but then in East Berlin. He transferred to the Georg August University of Göttingen. In 1949, he switched over to studying law at the newly founded Free University of Berlin. In 1955, Reuter completed his state examinations.